The Building Impact Initiative fund will offer developers patient and flexible loans to create and preserve 7,400 affordable homes in 14 counties in the greater San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento over 10 years.
More than a dozen investors, many with headquarters in the area, have committed over $40 million to the fund, including Apple, Wells Fargo and local foundations including Packard Foundation, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Community Foundation Santa Cruz County, the Grove Foundation and the San Francisco Foundation.
“In a moment when many are retreating, our partners are boldly stepping forward,” said Noni Ramos of Housing Trust Silicon Valley, the community development finance institution, or CDFI, managing the fund.
Tech giants including Apple, Google and Amazon pledged billions of dollars five years ago to spur affordable housing in their backyards, but many of those projects have been slow to materialize.
Transit-oriented development
Affordable housing developers in the Bay Area have struggled to build new units due to strict zoning regulations and lengthy permitting processes. President Trump’s tariffs have driven up the cost of construction materials like steel and lumber.
“This fund gives us the flexibility to meet the challenges of today while building the affordable housing systems our region will need tomorrow,” said Ramos.
Building Impact Initiative will focus on transit-oriented housing near employment hubs and support developers building environmentally sustainable housing.
Catalytic capital
Housing Trust has invested more than $690 million since 2000 to create close to 30,000 homes for working families, seniors and people with special needs in the Bay Area. The CDFI says the low-interest loans have helped developers leverage $9 billion in additional capital.
Housing Trust has also provided over $64 million in downpayment assistance loans to more than 2,590 low- and moderate-income, first-time homebuyers in the region.
Housing Trust’s TECH Fund has sold $120 million in community impact notes to investors, including Cisco, Google and Linkedin. The unsecured investment notes, sold in increments of $10,000, are capped at three percent interest.
