The Challenge

  • Housing access and affordability is one of the biggest challenges Rhode Islander’s face.
  • People earning less than $100,000 cannot afford a home in any of Rhode Island’s cities or towns.
  • After decades of underproduction, Rhode Island ranks 38th in per-capita housing production. We need ~25,000 affordable homes to meet current need.
  • Nonprofit developers run with tight balance sheets, and are often unable to absorb early-stage costs. They need access to flexible capital to compete for sites, and move projects quickly, so that homes Rhode Islanders can afford are more readily available.

How the Fund Helps

  1. Direct lines of credit to nonprofit developers: flexible, low-interest capital they draw as needed for predevelopment and acquisition
  2. Loans and guarantees to local community development financial institutions (CDFIs) such as the Providence Revolving Fund and LISC RI, leveraging their underwriting expertise and other funding to make more loans, at larger amounts.
  3. The money in the Fund will be repaid and recycled.

Make an Impact

Expert governance and oversight

Program governance is provided by our Impact Investing Committee made up of banking, real estate, and housing experts. Oversight is the responsibility of the Foundation’s Investment Committee and Board of Directors.

Managed risk

Partners with proven CDFIs, backed by a loan loss reserve and investment caps.

 

Two Ways to Give

Join us as an early, founding supporter.

 

To learn more, contact Lisa Roth Blackman, Vice President of Development at lrblackman@rifoundation.org