Impact Investing Pool Addresses Housing Affordability Crisis
Together, we can solve our region’s affordable housing crisis.
We previously shared with you LISC’s Housing Our Future report, the culmination of a year-long collaboration between public, private and nonprofit leaders, for which Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF) was a partner, convener and funder. It outlines strategies to help everyone in Cincinnati and Hamilton County have access to quality affordable housing in the places they want to live.
As we have a deficit of 40,000 affordable and available housing units, the need for action is urgent.
GCF launched the Affordable Housing Impact Investment Pool (AHIIP), which funds the construction of high-quality rental units and the building of renters’ equity accounts. We have invested $1 million toward a $5 million targeted fund size to help bridge the affordable housing gap.
To further strengthen our response to the crisis, GCF has partnered with Cincinnati Development Fund (CDF), which fills gaps not covered by traditional lenders, providing funding for real estate development in under-served markets in the Greater Cincinnati area. The AHIIP will help enable CDF to make these affordable loans available to developers.
Now, you can help ensure our families in need have quality, affordable housing in three ways:
- Make an impact investment to AHIIP through your donor advised fund.
- Make an impact investment directly to AHIIP and CDF.
- Make a donation to Cincinnati Development Fund to assist in keeping lending costs low.
With impact investing, donors enjoy two types of returns: a social return, because our community benefits from their generosity, and a financial return. The investments have a 1 percent return rate every year, in addition to a return-of-investment guarantee. The hope is that donors would then use their financial return to contribute to charitable causes again.
Learn more about our region’s affordable housing crisis and how to help by registering for LISC’s Housing Our Future webinar series and watching recordings of previous events here. If you are interested in learning more about AHIIP, please contact Director of Special Initiatives Robert Killins at (513) 768-6151 or robert.killins@gcfdn.org.
