PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release:  September 10, 2020

Contact:  Kate Peterson | 303.830.3443 |  kpeterson@mercyhousing.org

Mercy Community Capital reached this milestone translating into 10x leverage factor over their more than three-decades-long history.

DENVER—This landmark accomplishment comes at a prolific time in U.S. affordable housing history. As one of the nation’s most trusted and established CDFIs, Mercy Community Capital (MCC) has provided essential funding and loans for over 37 years to help families, seniors, veterans, and people with special needs have a stable, affordable place to call home.

This increase in leveraging from 7x to 10x, means that every dollar invested in MCC helps to create or preserve $10 of affordable housing.

“Crossing the threshold of $4 billion in total development costs since our inception is a tremendous milestone that highlights the breadth of MCC’s impact. MCC is 37 years old as an organization, and perhaps what’s more impressive is that half of this milestone (i.e., $2 billion of the $4 billion in total development costs) was achieved in the last five years. We expect to see this exponential impact trend to continue as we align capital with good.”—Jason Battista, President Mercy Community Capital

MCC’s external credit rating from Aeris improved three levels over the past five years based on the traditional Wall-Street-aligned rating scale and currently sits at a proud ‘AA+,’ representing the top 17% of rated CDFIs.

MCC by the Numbers

• Number of States: 41 and Puerto Rico
• Number of Communities: 227
• Number of Units Preserved or Created: 31,630
• Number of Residents Housed: 78,177
• Number of residents with onsite services available to them in 2019
  (includes financial counseling, health and wellness programs, job training, and after-school programs): 2,852
• 2020 YTD Total Household Savings: $13,919,212

Even before the catastrophic effects of the pandemic hit the economy, the need for affordable homes was at historic highs. The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimated that the U.S. lacked more than seven million affordable homes for people in need, in 2019 alone.

The majority of MCC’s projects this year funded land acquisition, so properties could be built for people struggling to afford market-rate rental housing. One such community is Woodland on Lafayette, a senior property in Middleton, OH.

MCC provided a $750,000 acquisition loan to National Church Residences, a long-time borrower of theirs. This 50-unit community for 135 seniors with incomes at or below 50% AMI is a prime example of how MCC’s lending translates into real, positive change for people living with lower incomes. With seniors particularly vulnerable to both the pandemic and lack of housing options, communities like Woodland on Lafayette ensure that these valued members of society can age in place and grace.

MCC has a new five-year goal to expand into a $100 million fund, but this is not for growth’s sake, rather it’s to increase their impact to support our nation’s most vulnerable population at this critical time. With a renewed focus, their communities offer stable affordable homes and strive to break cycles of systemic racism by helping communities to be more racially equitable, diverse, and inclusive.

As MCC continues to evolve and achieve unprecedented success, it is strengthening its commitment to their mission, always asking the critical question: ‘how can MCC catalyze investments in disadvantaged communities through affordable housing to help those most in need?’

About Mercy Community Capital

For more than three decades, Mercy Community Capital (MCC), a leading Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), has provided financing to support affordable housing and community development across the nation. MCC has focused exclusively on funding affordable housing and essential community infrastructure projects that support affordable housing. By collaborating with socially responsible developers, MCC has helped finance the development of single and multifamily homes for rental and homeownership. These developments help underserved communities, including people with low incomes, veterans, seniors, farmworkers, people who have experienced homelessness, and people with disabilities. MCC is a subsidiary of the affordable housing nonprofit Mercy Housing, Inc. (MHI), headquartered in Denver, CO. For more information, please visit mercycommunitycapital.org.