An article by the Charlotte Business Journal highlights the progress of the Charlotte Housing Opportunity Investment Fund (CHOIF), a private raised fund to build more affordable housing in the Queen City. In just two years since it's creation, CHOIF, which is managed by LISC, has invested its entire $50 million fund that will lead to more than 2,000 affordable apartments.
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Two years in, affordable-housing leaders in Charlotte take stock of private investment
by Erik Spanberg, Charlotte Business Journal
...LISC was brought in to help steer the public and private sector funds to get more bang for the collective buck. The foundation and LISC created the Charlotte Housing Opportunity Investment Fund, or CHOIF, to oversee and invest the $53 million in private money, which almost always includes gap financing from the public sector.
Neither LISC nor the foundation controls taxpayer money and Charlotte city government maintains final say on how that money is spent.
To date, according to LISC, the private housing investment fund has:
- Allocated all private money raised as of April, split between $26.2 million for 1,214 affordable units and the balance allocated to a partnership with Ascent Housing to acquire and preserve NOAH apartment complexes. That housing should be in place within two years.
- Leveraged $19.1 million in public dollars, part of a strategy that is forecast to double the number of units that would be built and preserved if the public and private sectors concentrated on standalone investments.
- Raised its anticipated affordable-housing target to 2,064 apartments, which, if realized, will exceed the original 1,500-unit goal by 40%. All of the housing will offer rents manageable for people who earn 30% to 120% of the area median income; in Charlotte, that range currently equals
- $22,000 to $88,ooo for a family of four. Individuals and families are considered cost-burdened if housing costs account for more than 30% of their income, according to the federal government.
- Resisted the temptation to cater to the higher end of the affordable-housing scale in order to reach target numbers. An estimated 22% of the units will serve people with median incomes of 30% AMI ($22,000) or less. "I'm just glad that they've been mindful of the twin goals of units and families from diverse incomes having access to those units;' said Brian Collier, Foundation For The Carolinas executive vice president.
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