Twenty-three organizations will receive $80 million in grants to finance affordable housing under the new Capital Magnet Fund.
Thirteen of the awardees are nonprofit housing organizations, nine are Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), and one is a tribal housing authority, announced the CDFI Fund. (A list of recipients is below.)
Abode Communities in Los Angeles, The Community Builders in Boston, Volunteers of America National Services in Eden Prairie, Minn., and Southwest Housing Solutions Corp. in Detroit are a few of the developers receiving awards.
“The grant will help us to continue to support the production of affordable housing,” says Robin Hughes, president and CEO of Abode. The nonprofit organization will use its $4 million award to capitalize a revolving loan fund that will leverage about $270 million in development over the next four years.
PathStone Corp. in Rochester, N.Y., is one of the smaller organizations to receive an award. It will use its $2 million grant to capitalize a predevelopment fund to pay the up-front costs associated with developing multifamily housing in Puerto Rico. PathStone expects to develop more than new 400 units in the rural and mountainous regions within five years.
Southwest Housing Solutions will put its $2 million award to work in southwest Detroit. Plans include building and rehabilitating about 137 housing units and developing community-service facilities.
Financial organizations receiving grants include the Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC). The organization will use its $5 million award to leverage private loan dollars and launch the LISC Neighborhood Revitalization Loan Fund, which is expected to finance at least $100 million in affordable rental housing, community facilities, and economic development activities.
LISC officials say their new fund will offer predevelopment, construction, and acquisition loan products that will help fill the gaps left by the credit crunch as well as innovative guarantees to attract additional investment capital to low-income housing tax credit projects.
The Ohio Capital Finance Corp. (OCFC), the lending arm of the Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing, also received $5 million. It plans to use its award to create a revolving equity bridge loan program.
This benefits developers by reducing the total project construction interest costs, says OCFC President Jon Welty. The group will revolve the funds several times to touch as many projects as possible.
Century Housing, a nonprofit affordable housing lender based in Southern California, will use its $5 million grant to expand its lending activities throughout the state, according to Stephen Peelor, senior vice president of lending. The organization’s activities have been focused in the Los Angeles region.
San Francisco-based Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) received the largest award. “LIIF will use its $6 million grant to leverage additional private capital to invest $180 million in affordable housing and related community facilities projects in underserved neighborhoods,” says COO Kimberly Latimer-Nelligan. “LIIF is particularly interested in projects that connect affordable homes with essential services like schools, child care, and public transit.
Established by the Housing and Economy Recovery Act of 2008, the Capital Magnet Fund drew applications from 230 organizations requesting more than $1 billion in funds. The recipients are based in 14 states, but 38 states as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico will potentially be served.
Capital Magnet Fund awards went to:
Abode Communities (Los Angeles)
Century Housing Corp. (Culver City, Calif.)
Enterprise Corporation of the Delta (Jackson, Miss.)
Forward Community Investments (Madison, Wis.)
Great Lakes Capital Fund Nonprofit Housing (Lansing, Mich.)
Habitat for Humanity International (Atlanta)
Idaho-Nevada CDFI, Inc. (Pocatello, Idaho)
Local Initiatives Support Corp. (New York City)
Low Income Investment Fund (San Francisco)
Massachusetts Housing Partnership (Boston)
New Hampshire Community Loan Fund (Concord, N.H.)
Northwest Real Estate Capital Corp. (Boise, Idaho)
Ohio Capital Finance Corp. (Columbus, Ohio)
PathStone Corp. (Rochester, N.Y.)
Rural Community Assistance Corp. (West Sacramento, Calif.)
San Carlos Housing Authority (Peridot, Ariz.)
South County Housing Corp. (Gilroy, Calif.)
Southwest Housing Solutions Corp. (Detroit)
The Community Builders, Inc. (Boston)
The Reinvestment Fund (Philadelphia)
Volunteers of America National Services (Eden Prairie, Minn.)
Western Community Housing, Inc. (Costa Mesa, Calif.)
Women's Development Corp. (Providence, R.I.)
$4 million
$5 million
$4 million
$3.8 million
$4 million
$4 million
$1.98 million
$5 million
$6 million
$4 million
$3.7 million
$500,000
$5 million
$2 million
$2 million
$1 million
$1 million
$2 million
$5 million
$5 million
$5 million
$5 million
$1 million