NHC Chairman’s Circle member JPMorgan Chase, in partnership with NHC member Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF), recently announced the first two investments of a new $6 million social capital projects that will accelerate revitalization efforts at large-scale public housing developments in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New Orleans. “Equity with a Twist” (EQT) provides “flexible, low-cost financing to support and incentivize integrative, outcomes-driven solutions to poverty.”
EQT will provide Bayou Development Fund and NHC member BRIDGE Housing with $2 million each in low-cost, 10-year financing for their multisector efforts to tackle poverty in California and Louisiana. Bayou Development Fund will use the financing to continue rebuilding communities ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Both organizations are undertaking large-scale community revitalization efforts that will incorporate mixed-income housing with high-quality learning programs. The EQT financing will help both BRIDGE Housing and Bayou Development Fund to tackle the housing and educational needs together.
“Neighborhoods that provide low-income families with healthy, affordable places to live, learn, work and play create opportunities for people to climb out of poverty. Transforming distressed places into opportunity-rich neighborhoods requires a silo-busting approach, long-term commitment from partners and an organization willing to be accountable for change,” Nancy O. Andrews, president and CEO of LIIF, said in a press release. “Equity with a Twist is a flexible and patient social capital tool that supports high-impact work with strong social returns, while also generating a modest financial return for investors.”
The intersection of housing and education is a locus of significant work and research in the housing community, and the focus of an upcoming NHC event. On Dec. 13, NHC will host the How Housing Matters conference, sponsored by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and in partnership with HUD PD&R, the Urban Institute and the Terwilliger Center at ULI. This day-long event in Washington, D.C. will explore ways to achieve positive outcomes for children, working families and vulnerable populations through cross-sector collaboration in health, economic opportunity, education and housing. For more information, contact Janet Viveiros at jviveiros@nhc.org.
BRIDGE Housing’s work will impact the Potrero neighborhood in San Francisco and Jordan Downs in Los Angeles. Bayou Development Fund will support the Columbia Parc neighborhood in New Orleans.