MTC Pledges $10 Million for New Fund to Preserve Affordable Housing
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) today committed $10 million to establish a new revolving loan fund known as the Bay Area Preservation Pilot Fund to help nonprofit developers finance the acquisition and preservation of existing multifamily housing properties that are located in areas with high-frequency transit service and are considered affordable for lower- and moderate-income renters. The Commission’s stake will be supplemented by an additional $39 million from Preservation Pilot managers Enterprise Community Loan Fund (ECLF) and Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) to make a total of $49 million available for new loans.
“It’s no secret that the Bay Area’s housing supply hasn’t kept pace with the region’s employment growth,” noted Oakland mayor and MTC Commissioner Libby Schaaf, who played a lead role in organizing the Preservation Pilot initiative. “But our economy relies on people from diverse employment sectors and from all levels of our economy having the ability to live in neighborhoods with reliable access to our major job centers. The seed money for the Preservation Pilot is an investment in the long-term health of our job market and a natural complement to the $10 million MTC invested in 2010 to jumpstart the Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Fund, which helps developers finance the acquisition of new construction sites.”
Nonprofit developers and joint venture partnerships can tap the Preservation Pilot fund for loans up to $7 million and terms as long as 10 years to buy nonsubsidized apartment buildings with at least four units. Rents for at least 75 percent of the units must be considered affordable for households whose annual income is no more than 80 percent of the area median, which for a Bay Area family of four ranges by county from about $64,300 to $105,350. Borrowers also can use the loan proceeds to fund an operating reserve for the acquired property, and to perform life safety upgrades and limited other property rehabilitation work.
MTC is the transportation planning, funding and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. ECLF has invested more than $1.6 billion and leveraged over $11 billion in additional capital to create or preserve more than 106,000 housing units affordable for lower-income households nationwide. San Francisco-based LIIF has provided over $2.2 billion of financing and technical assistance and leveraged another $9.5 billion to provide some 2 million lower-income people around the country with stable housing and community services.