Nationally, housing costs have grown steadily over the past forty years during a time when wages have remained mostly stagnant. The Urban Institute found that affordability for people with extremely low incomes worsened between 2019 and 2021, with a nation-wide shortage of over 7.3 million units.
“Housing costs across the U.S. have risen dramatically over the past few years, driving increases in homelessness, directly affecting household wealth, which has further widened inequality and stifled economic growth,” said Cindy Holler, CEO of Community Housing Capital. “The purpose of this feature is to raise awareness about the housing affordability crisis, discuss the challenges housing developers face and garner support and advocacy for the work being done in this industry. The video will demonstrate the power of blending philanthropic capital with public investment to dramatically improve the low-income housing market.”
Housing developers of color face uneven access to financing from banks and financial institutions. “I saw firsthand in my more than 20 years of working for large commercial banks in the U.S. the institutional racism that people of color have faced trying to get fair access to capital,” said Dana Chestnut, SVP/ Chief Loan Officer, Community Housing Capital. “At CHC we created a finance product for housing developers of color. That product is minimum market rate capital so they can have full access and compete against their for-profit partners for funding.” Chestnut has also been interviewed for the feature.
One of the contributing factors to an inability to address affordable housing shortages is the high cost and short time horizon of financing available to developers. Building and preserving housing that is affordable to people living at and below the Area Median Income (AMI) often requires longer time horizons, innovation, and a commitment to maximizing social returns. CHC utilizes this “patient capital” approach to partner with non-profit housing developers in the NeighborWorks America network, two of which are being interviewed for the program.
New Urban Development (NUD), the real estate development arm of the Urban League of Greater Miami, is an affordable housing and commercial real estate developer and is based in Miami, FL. T. Williard Fair, President & CEO of the Urban League of Greater Miami, said, “This is probably the most challenging environment that we’ve faced relative to the development of affordable/workforce housing here in South Florida. Specifically, the increases in cost of capital, construction costs, land, and insurance have added tremendous pressure on the delivery of much-needed affordable housing. Having CHC as a strategic partner has been a tremendous asset. Their intentionality in structuring financing – and the team’s experience – has yielded not only financial support but also access to technical resources and relationships.” Historically, NUD has facilitated the development of over thirteen housing projects comprising approximately 1,500 units.
Tony Reyes, Executive Director, ComitI de Bien Estar, said, “We are excited about the opportunity to provide solutions to challenges facing working families in finding affordable housing in America.” ComitI de Bien Estar, based in San Luis, AZ, is a membership non-profit located in San Luis, Arizona, serving primarily immigrant workers and their families. Since 2009, ComitI has received $70 million in capital from CHC, which it has used to build 517 homes for low- to moderate-income families to date, with additional projects underway.
For more information or to request an interview, please contact Elizabeth Vivirito at [email protected].
About Community Housing Capital (CHC)
Community Housing Capital (CHC) is an Atlanta-based national nonprofit and Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI) that aggregates loan capital to finance the creation and preservation of affordable housing. To fulfill its mission, CHC provides predevelopment, acquisition, construction, and permanent financing on multifamily and single-family developments exclusively to NeighborWorks Organizations. Since 2000, CHC has invested $1.12 billion in direct loan originations and leveraged $3.38 billion in affordable housing development, supporting new construction jobs, and resulting in the creation and preservation of over 22,769 affordable homes. For more information, visit our website or read our 2022 Annual Report.
Media Contact
Elizabeth Vivirito, Community Housing Capital, 1 7733322570, [email protected], https://communityhousingcapital.org/
SOURCE Community Housing Capital
