The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund announced on Wednesday that it has awarded 48 organizations a total of $246.4 million to develop affordable housing and community facilities.
The funding is expected to result in some 26,400 new housing units, which will primarily serve low-income families and communities that “need additional investment,” the department said in its announcement. Of this total, 750 will be “homeownership units,” with the remaining 25,600 being rental units.
The awards, distributed through the fiscal year (FY) 2024 round of the Capital Magnet Fund (CMF), will support “financing for the preservation, rehabilitation, development, or purchase of affordable housing, as well as related economic development facilities, including day care centers, workforce development centers, and health care clinics.”
A total of 48 recipients were named, and they will serve needs in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories including Guam and Puerto Rico.
The Treasury noted that recipients are ”required to leverage their awards with other private and public investment by at least 10 to one.” The recipients announced this week estimate that they will leverage about $6.8 billion in privately sourced capital.
More than half (52%) of these organizations said they plan to focus a portion of their funds on rural areas, with 12 of them promising to commit at least 25% of their awards to locations with more limited infrastructure than urban or suburban areas. Of the 48 recipients, 25 are CDFIs and 23 are nonprofit housing organizations.
“Today’s awards will increase affordable housing supply and expand access to child care and health care for families across America,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement. “These awards are projected to leverage nearly $9 billion in private and public sector resources to spur development in communities that need additional investment to create opportunities for communities to get ahead.”
“The awardees were selected pursuant to a competitive review of applications submitted from 136 organizations that requested more than $1.06 billion from the FY 2024 Capital Magnet Fund round,” the department said.