Affordable Housing

A safe, affordable home is one of the basic requisites of life—a key to individual health and well-being, and the foundation for sustainable, economically vibrant and diverse neighborhoods.

Housing is where LISC started. And it’s still the cornerstone of our mission, even as our vision has expanded to incorporate work to improve education, health, safety and economic growth in the places where we work. LISC helps make quality, affordable housing available to low-income and vulnerable residents—from seniors to veterans to the formerly homeless—in underserved communities.

Affordable housing has benefits that extend beyond the walls of a home to the community at large. It boosts spending and employment in the surrounding economy, brings revenue into local governments and reduces the likelihood of foreclosure.

To make this all happen, LISC provides grants, loans and equity for nearly every aspect of development, from planning and acquisition to construction and ren­ovation. We do this through LISC Housing and our affiliate, the National Equity Fund. We also created the Community Development Trust, the first real estate investment trust specializing in affordable housing that continues to invest in affordable housing around the country.  We offer techni­cal assistance, data and mapping tools to communi­ty-based organizations working to improve the supply and condition of affordable housing in their neigh­borhoods. And we advocate for good housing policy at all levels of government.

Affordable Housing Capacity Building

Housing Development Training Institute

In communities around the country, LISC launched the Housing Development Training Institute in response to an unmet educational need for a comprehensive program to develop the skills of the staff of community development corporations. The goals of the HDTI program are:

• Increase the development capacity of community-based nonprofit development organizations by providing practical, comprehensive, and intensive skill training in affordable housing development and community development strategies and techniques.
• Increase the supply of affordable housing through the program's emphasis on production as part of the learning process. During the duration of the training program, each participant may work on an actual housing development, applying the lessons learned during the workshop and creating a real-life context for the training.
• Foster a network of project management professionals who serve as a resource to each other, share information and provide peer support throughout their careers.

LISC Phoenix will be launching a local HDTI program soon. Answer our survey to join the interest list.

Affordable Housing Lending

Arizona Affordable Housing Predevelopment Fund

In partnership with Arizona Community Foundation, we created the Affordable Housing Fund in 2007 as an innovative way to spur affordable housing development. Unlike traditional charitable funds, this Fund provides zero-interest loans to nonprofit housing developers for the pre-development phase of affordable housing projects, for which financing is not typically available. Once the project receives long-term lender financing, loans are repaid to the Fund—making those dollars available for new projects.

Metro Phoenix Affordable Housing Collaborative Fund

This fund was established by Arizona Community Foundation in 2021 to bolster affordable housing projects across Metro Phoenix. Through a generous grant from JPMorgan Chase and additional funding from APS, grants and loans from this fund benefit nonprofit housing developers that are producing and preserving affordable housing within Metro Phoenix.

LISC Loan Products

LISC offers financing for the preservation and development of affordable multifamily rental housing, homeownership for low-income residents and families, and market rate housing in certain markets that serves a broader community development purpose.

Affordable Housing Grants

Arizona Housing Fund

The Arizona Housing Fund provides funding for permanent supportive housing projects that serve the most vulnerable individuals and families earning up to 30% AMI (Area Median Income). Funding is distributed on a first come, first served basis for mission-aligned projects. LISC Phoenix provides application development and processing support to the fund. 

Housing is Healthcare Fund by the Arizona Medicaid Health Plans

The Housing is Healthcare Fund by the Arizona Medicaid Health Plansinvests in affordable housing projects that include elements that connect communities and support healthier individuals, families and economies across the State of Arizona, including housing for Medicaid-eligible individuals. The Fund was developed in 2020 by a consortium of health plans, becoming the first statewide initiative aligned to the vision and values of the national Home Matters movement. This fund was previously known as the Home Matters Arizona Fund.