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Startup fund for affordable housing in LA doubles in size
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A site that was proposed for new affordable housing units in Huntington Beach.
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In preparation for what could be an affordable housing building boom in Los Angeles, a group of philanthropists has doubled a key loan program for developers.
The Supportive Housing Loan program, which in recent years has provided low-interest, flexible loans to affordable housing developers, has received a $30 million infusion from the Corporation for Supportive Housing, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Kresge Foundation, and Weingart Foundation.
That move effectively doubles the amount of startup funding available to nonprofits that build permanent supportive housing for homeless and low-income people in Los Angeles.
"This fund is critically important," said Dora Leong Gallo, CEO of A Community of Friends, one of the area's most prolific affordable housing developers. "The hardest thing about starting a project, after you find a location is the financing to actually buy the property and to begin the work designing it, doing your due diligence, environmental studies, soils."
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Other sources of help — such as construction loans, low-income housing tax credits, and federal and local funds — don't kick in until construction starts.
"So there's about a year and a half where you're spending money before these funds are available," said Stephanie Klasky-Gamer, president and CEO of L.A. Family Housing.
The infusion is particularly key, she said, as funds from Proposition HHH, a ten-year, $1.2 billion city bond measure become available.
That funding is expected to help developers in Los Angeles produce up to 10,000 units of permanent supportive housing for homeless, as well as low-income housing over the next decade.
"It's great to see new partners stepping up," Klasky-Gamer said.
Mayor Eric Garcetti, in a statement, also praised the foundations.
“Every Angeleno deserves safe housing that they can afford — it is a basic human right,” he said. “When the public and private sectors join forces to serve the most vulnerable in our community, our ability to build housing and deliver services can reach new heights.”
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