LISC approaches affordable housing from a community development perspective that supports local initiatives. This strategy, which includes financing, technical assistance and educational resources to community development corporations, has resulted in the creation or preservation of more than 160,000 affordable homes and apartments. Affordable housing covers a range of issues, from homeownership to preservation to working with public housing agencies. LISC runs a variety of national programs to address those issues.
- The federal low income housing tax credit was established in 1986 to encourage private investment in affordable rental housing. LISC’s affiliate, National Equity Fund, Inc. (NEF), is the nation’s largest nonprofit syndicator of the credits, providing equity capital for multifamily housing projects. Since 1987, NEF has been involved in developing 1,300 affordable housing developments in 250 urban communities and rural areas.
- In many cities, local housing authorities (LHAs) that administer public housing projects are the largest landlords in areas targeted for redevelopment by LISC CDCs. LISC established the Housing Authority Resource Center (HARC) to encourage productive relationships among those housing authorities and local LISC programs. That encouragement comes in the form of financial and technical assistance for innovative development, preservation and redevelopment.
- Nearly 2 million units of federally assisted rental housing face expiring rent and mortgage subsidies and soon may no longer be available to low-income residents. LISC’s Affordable Housing Preservation Initiative is dedicated to preserving as affordable as many of those units as possible. The program provides technical support to LISC’s field offices and local CDCs, seeks new financing solutions to keep those units affordable, and maintains partnerships with other nonprofits to keep those properties safe and in good repair.
