Washington, DC, June 22, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) awarded 59 organizations $336.4 million today for the development of affordable housing and community facilities serving low-income individuals, families, and communities. These awards were made through the fiscal year (FY) 2021 round of the Capital Magnet Fund, and will support financing for the preservation, rehabilitation, development or purchase of affordable housing as well as related economic development and community service facilities such as day care centers, workforce development centers and health care clinics. This is the largest award round since the creation of the Capital Magnet Fund and a 23% increase in the number of awardees compared to the FY 2020 award round.
“I am proud to announce the recipients of the FY 2021 Capital Magnet Fund awards, our largest award round ever,” said CDFI Fund Director Jodie Harris. “The lack of affordable housing is a persistent problem for our country. Expanding the reach of the Capital Magnet Fund to more organizations–one-third of which are first-time Capital Magnet Fund awardees—will support vital financing for affordable housing and related economic development and community service facilities that our communities urgently need.”
The awardees are required to leverage their awards with other private and public investment by at least 10 to 1, guaranteeing that a minimum of $3.36 billion will be invested in eligible projects across the United States. For the FY 2021 round the awardees anticipate that nearly $12.8 billion will be invested in total, including more than $9.8 billion in private investment.
The 59 awardees will collectively serve 47 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Thirty awardees (or 51% of the total awardees) plan to invest a portion of their award dollars in Rural Areas, with nine of those awardees planning to invest at least half of their award dollars in Rural Areas. Of the 59 total awardees, 32 are Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and 27 are non-profit housing organizations. The 59 awardees were selected pursuant to a merit-based competitive review of applications submitted from 146 organizations that requested more than $991.8 million from the FY 2021 Capital Magnet Fund round.
FY 2021 Capital Magnet Fund Award Resources
About the CDFI Fund
Since its creation in 1994, the CDFI Fund has awarded more than $5.5 billion to CDFIs, community development organizations, and financial institutions through: the Bank Enterprise Award Program; the Capital Magnet Fund; the CDFI Rapid Response Program; the Community Development Financial Institutions Program, including the Healthy Food Financing Initiative; the Economic Mobility Corps; the Financial Education and Counseling Pilot Program; the Native American CDFI Assistance Program; and the Small Dollar Loan Program. In addition, the CDFI Fund has allocated $66 billion in tax credit allocation authority to Community Development Entities through the New Markets Tax Credit Program, and closed guaranteed bonds for more than $1.8 billion through the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program.
To learn more about the CDFI Fund and its programs, please visit the CDFI Fund’s website at www.cdfifund.gov.
