Washington, DC – July 13, 2016 – To boost the ability of nonprofit developers to create more affordable housing in the District of Columbia, The Jubilee Manna Community Development Enterprise (CDE) has created a $15 million Justice Housing Opportunity Fund. The fund, which is an innovative use of its New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) will finance multiple affordable housing projects during the next seven years. Jubilee Manna CDE has established an $8 million credit pool for affordable homeownership projects and a $7 million credit pool for affordable rental housing projects.
The Fund, using entirely private financing, will enable nonprofit developers to create justice housing in the District through affordable for-sale and rental housing projects that provide access to an array of programs and services that open doors of opportunity. The crash of the housing market, especially affordable, for-sale housing, has made it very difficult to obtain financing for new projects. At the same time, despite the recent economic recession there has not been significant decrease in the cost to acquire new properties for development. These contradictory phenomena have only made the affordability problem worse. Real estate prices and rents have increased in the District since 2008, while household incomes have stagnated.
The Justice Housing Opportunity Fund will help more DC residents benefit from the growth of the city by assisting nonprofit developers to: a) acquire and renovate buildings with a combination of affordable rental housing and nonprofit community facilities such as childcare centers; or b) enable nonprofit developers to acquire and redevelop blighted/abandoned properties into affordable for-sale housing with wraparound social services.
“As our city continues to experience white hot development, here is a growing group of residents who are squeezed out. The Justice Housing Opportunity Fund will help people with fewer financial resources to stay in the District and share the benefits of living in this great City. That’s housing justice,” said Jim Knight, president of Jubilee Housing.
The first series of projects financed by the Fund includes the development of 24 units of affordable homeownership housing developed by Habitat for Humanity. The units will be affordable to households earning between 30 percent and 60 percent of area median income in three sites across the city.
“Habitat’s strong track record as one of the best producers of affordable homeownership made them an ideal partner for the first investment,” said Avram Fechter, managing director of Equity Plus, LCC, which is managing the Justice Housing Opportunity Fund on behalf of Jubilee Manna CDE.
“This fund is exactly what the city needs to help preserve diversity while also providing opportunities for low-to-moderate income households to move up the economic ladder through homeownership. This fund is a part of helping folks stay in the District and continue adding to the city’s vibrancy, culture and life. This is just a beginning and we are excited about more to come,” said Jim Dickerson, CEO of Manna, Inc.
________________________________________________________________
About Jubilee Manna CDE is a joint venture between two of the District’s longest standing and most well respected housing nonprofits, Jubilee Housing and Manna. The CDE was launched with funding support from the Agnes and Eugene Meyer Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Treasury awarded Jubilee Manna CDE $15 million in NMTC in June 2015. www.jubileemannacde.org
Jubilee Housing is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to build diverse, compassionate communities that create opportunities for everyone to thrive. Jubilee envisions a city and a world where access to basic resources and opportunities are available to all people and where people live out these opportunities in the context of supportive community. Jubilee provides service enriched housing that combines stable, affordable housing with a variety of programs based on the needs determined by and with our community.
Manna, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to help low and moderate income persons acquire quality housing, build assets for families through homeownership, revitalize distressed neighborhoods, and preserve racial and ethnic diversity. Since 1982, Manna has developed almost 1,200 housing units across 170 projects through Washington, DC, counseled and helped over 1700 households purchase their first home, and currently manages approximately 200 condominiums.
Habitat for Humanity of Washington, D.C. believes that everyone deserves a house they want to call home. That’s why Habitat works to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness in the nation’s capital by building affordable, energy-and resource-efficient homes for people in need. DC Habitat builds and rehabilitates homes in order to sell them to families who are ineligible for conventional financing.
CONTACT:
Avram Fechter
Managing Director
EquityPlus, LLC
24851 Quimby Oaks Place
Aldie, Virginia 20105
202-236-4402