The F.R. Bigelow Foundation and the St. Paul Foundation are committing $1 million each to two organizations — CommonBond Communities and Habitat for Humanity — as program-related investments.
CommonBond, which is based in St. Paul, develops and manages affordable apartments throughout Minnesota. It will use the loan to boost its Housing Opportunity Fund, which buys rental properties to lease to Minnesotans earning between $33,000 and $48,000 per year.
The Twin Cities chapter of Habitat for Humanity will use its loan to issue mortgages to low-income families, as part of its impact 2020 strategic plan that aims to enable 500 families in the metro area to become homeowners. St. Paul-based community lender Bremer Bank committed to the initiative earlier this year by becoming Habitat’s banking partner.
A lot has been happening with Twin Cities affordable housing this year, where demand for low-cost housing exceeds supply and not enough new construction is underway.
The NOAH Impact Fund, which raised $32 million to buy and preserve existing affordable housing units in and around Minneapolis, recently made its first acquisition.
