The DC Housing Preservation Strike Force recommended creating a private-public preservation fund as one of six critical strategies to preserve affordable rental housing in the District. Mayor Muriel Bowser invested $10 million in local funds for the Housing Preservation Fund in DHCD’s FY17 and FY18 budget, and subsequently invested an additional $19 million dollars over fiscal years FY19 and FY20. An allocation of $17.1 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) rounds out the investment in the fund.
Along with other private and philanthropic investments, the District Government’s initial $46 million investment was used to grow the fund to approximately $138 million—for a combined total of $184 million. These funds quickly provide short-term bridge acquisition and pre-development financing to eligible borrowers. Properties targeted for fund investments are occupied multi-family housing of over five units, in which at least 50 percent of units are currently affordable to households earning up to 80 percent of the median family income (MFI).
The fund has three managers: (1) Capital Impact Partners, a Certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) based in Arlington, Virginia, a subsidiary of Momentus Capital, that has provided more than $74 million in financing for 14 projects that have preserved 1,587 affordable housing units in the District; (2) LISC-DC, another CDFI which has provided $80 million in financing, through HPF, for 21 projects that have preserved 912 affordable housing units in the District and (3) Low-Income Investment Fund (LIIF), a national CDFI which has provided more than $24 million in financing for five (5) projects that have preserved 95 affordable housing units in the District.
To apply for Preservation Funds, please contact:
- Seth Whetzel at ([email protected]) for Capital Impact Partners (CIP)
- Ramon Jacobson at ([email protected]) for LISC-DC
- Kirsten Shaw at ([email protected]) for the Low-Income Investment Fund (LIIF)
