$100 Million Initiative to Preserve Affordable Communities Additional Capital Available to Help Stabilize Low-Income Families and Neighborhoods

SAN FRANCISCO – The Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF), National Affordable Housing Trust (NAHT), Calvert Impact Capital and Mercy Loan Fund (MLF) have partnered to provide capital for the second phase of the $100 million Fund to Preserve Affordable Communities (FPAC) aimed at protecting affordable housing for low-income families across the nation. The partnership will make funds available to Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF) members, who represent some of the nation’s top affordable housing developers, for the acquisition of housing preservation projects.

The second FPAC phase (“FPAC 2.0”) will make available $28 million to preserve affordable housing properties. This second phase will build on the successful deployment of $40 million used to acquire and preserve 647 units of affordable housing through the pilot phase launched in 2017.

FPAC 2.0 will provide continued access to flexible capital that will allow borrowers to move quickly to acquire properties at risk of converting to market-rate housing. This is particularly critical in highly competitive markets where the supply of affordable housing for low-income households is increasingly limited, and nonprofit developers are often unable to quickly obtain funds to compete with for-profit buyers. By providing this critical, early-stage financing, FPAC 2.0 will allow affordable housing developers to ensure long-term affordability for residents and help stabilize communities around the country.

The national rise in housing costs and rent burdens has been well documented, and affects not only households in large cities but in markets across the country.[1] In addition to producing new affordable housing, a critical piece of the solution is preserving at-risk existing affordable housing, which is under pressure as costs increase and supply continues to be lost.[2]

FPAC 2.0 will address these issues nationally by providing financing to acquire, stabilize, and preserve affordable housing. FPAC 2.0 will provide acquisition loans for projects needing funding that will range from $2-10 million with terms up to five years.

“LIIF is committed to providing capital for housing those most at risk in our country and enabling families to stay in their neighborhoods,” said LIIF President Kimberly Latimer-Nelligan. “We are excited to build on the first round of financing and to continue our partnership with NAHT and the SAHF members.”

“NAHT is pleased to partner with LIIF, Calvert Impact Capital, and Mercy Loan Fund for this critically important effort to preserve affordable housing,” stated Lori Little, President and CEO of NAHT. “There is a huge need for affordable housing, and we must maintain our current at-risk housing stock or we will never make progress addressing the need for affordable housing.”

“Calvert Impact Capital is excited to support the housing preservation efforts of some of the strongest nonprofit affordable housing developers in the country. FPAC 2.0 aligns well with our strategy of providing capital to innovative structures that allow help established lenders like LIIF scale the important products and services they provide to the community development sector,” said Kevin Fanfoni, Senior Investment Officer at Calvert Impact Capital.

“Mercy Loan Fund is excited for the opportunity to be part of the second round of funding and expanding our relationship with LIIF. Working with like-minded organizations with similar visions around the importance of preservation is critical to ensure the long-term affordability of properties in high-cost rising markets,” said Stefanie Joy, Vice President of Mercy Loan Fund.

For more information on this Fund, contact Melissa Garcia, LIIF’s director of national lending initiatives, at mgarcia@liifund.org or David Michaels, NAHT senior vice president, director of underwriting and closings, at dmichaels@naht.org.

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Calvert Impact Capital invests to create a more equitable and sustainable world. Through our products and services, we raise capital from individual and institutional investors to finance intermediaries and funds that are investing in communities left out of traditional capital markets. During our 25-year history, we have mobilized over $2 billion of investor capital. Calvert Impact Capital also offers loan syndications, where we originate, structure and administer loans for institutional and accredited lenders seeking environmental and social impact. To date, we have syndicated and/or administered more than $200 million of capital for impact-oriented transactions. More at www.calvertimpactcapital.org.

The Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) invests capital to support healthy families and communities. Since 1984, LIIF has served more than two million people by providing $2.5 billion in financing and technical assistance. Over its history, LIIF has supported efforts to create and preserve 78,000 units of affordable housing; 271,000 child care spaces; 98,000 spaces in schools; and 36 million square feet of community facilities and commercial space. LIIF’s work has generated $65.1 billion in family income and societal benefits. LIIF has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C. and Atlanta.

For the past 34 years, Mercy Loan Fund (MLF) has focused exclusively on funding affordable housing and essential community infrastructure projects that support affordable housing. By collaborating with socially-responsible developers, MLF has helped finance the development of single and multifamily homes for rental and homeownership. These developments help a variety of people including low-income families, the working poor, seniors, farm works, people who have experienced homelessness, and people with special needs. MLF is a subsidiary of the affordable housing nonprofit, Mercy Housing. For more information, please visit http://www.mercyloanfund.org.

National Affordable Housing Trust is a nonprofit low income housing tax credit (LIHTC) syndicator, specialized financial intermediary and development advisory firm. NAHT raises LIHTC equity from national and regional investors, and provides this equity to mission-driven developers and owners who provide quality affordable housing, with resident-focused solutions. 

[1] Kresge, Preserving, Protecting, and Expanding Affordable Housing: What’s the Connection? 2015. Link

[2] Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, The State of the Nation’s Housing, 2017. Link