Innovative Joint Venture Aims to Invest $1 Billion Nationwide in First Five Years
As tens of millions of people face eviction across the country, the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF), Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF), and National Affordable Housing Trust (NAHT) today announced a new partnership intended to assist low-income families and communities of color, who are being disproportionately impacted by the current affordable housing crisis.
This new venture comes as LIIF has launched a new strategic direction that places equity at the core of our work. The combination of the SAHF member model and LIIF and NAHT’s proven ability to innovatively structure and deliver capital to communities makes this partnership uniquely equipped to generate more equitable outcomes for residents and the communities where they reside.
Together we will work to raise $1 billion over the first five years of the partnership to build, protect and preserve approximately 10,000 affordable homes across the country. Our innovative approach will elevate tenant voices and community needs when it comes to creating new developments, generating greater social impact—as well as financial return—for investors.
“This joint venture will create bold solutions, from capital innovations to policy advocacy, in order to create, protect and preserve affordable housing,” said Kimberly Latimer-Nelligan, President of LIIF.
“We are launching this partnership at a time of immense crisis for communities with lower incomes,” said Andrea R. Ponsor, President & CEO of SAHF. “The reality and scale of the current situation requires an immediate response to ensure that hundreds of thousands of homes remain affordable to people that need them.”
In past recessions, such as in 2008, private equity was quick to respond to the flood of distressed real-estate assets at bargain prices with readily available capital, converting a staggering number of affordable homes out of affordability, while the need for affordable homes skyrocketed.
“We cannot let this happen again,” said Lori Little, President & CEO of NAHT. “We will proactively equip affordable housing developers with financing solutions that will allow them to be competitive. We will challenge the status quo to ensure an equitable recovery.”
The three organizations have already partnered on several initiatives to preserve affordable housing, including the Fund to Preserve Affordable Communities (FPAC), a $100 million collaborative between LIIF, NAHT and others, that provides acquisition financing to SAHF members. LIIF and SAHF’s joint membership of NAHT will pave the way for further collaborations that build communities of equity and opportunity.
Beekman Advisors represented Low Income Investment Fund in the due diligence and negotiation of the transaction. This partnership received the generous support of the SeaChange-Lodestar Fund for Nonprofit Collaboration.
Learn more about this new partnership and read our joint op-ed in Affordable Housing Finance.
Download our fact sheet.
Read “Inside the $1 Billion Bid to Rescue Affordable Housing” in CityLab.
Listen to “New Partnership Tackles Housing Affordability Crisis” on the Urban Lab podcast.