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Nonprofit housing developers can apply for $15 million in low-interest lines of credit to acquire sites for affordable homes and apartments. The loans are expected to range from $500,000 to $2.5 million.

“The housing shortage is driving rents and home prices to record highs. We’ve got to be creative and offer tools that enable our community partners to create the housing that so many Rhode Islanders so desperately need,” said David N. Cicilline, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation.

The new Early-Stage Capital program will deliver flexible acquisition funding at the earliest and most uncertain stages of housing development, when access to capital can determine whether a project moves forward at all.

By equipping nonprofit developers with the resources needed to act quickly on acquisition opportunities, the program helps ensure that sites for affordable housing are not lost to market-rate competition or left undeveloped.

As nonprofits repay their lines of credit, the Foundation will recycle the funds back in the program – maximizing the long-term impact of the capital and enabling the program to support as many projects as possible over time to help expand and preserve affordable housing options for Rhode Island residents.

Among the program’s priorities are:

• Expand the supply of affordable housing through the acquisition of sites or properties for new construction or substantial rehabilitation.
• Preserve existing affordable housing at risk of conversion to market-rate or deterioration due to deferred maintenance.
• Support a diverse mix of projects across the state, including homeownership opportunities, affordable rental developments, and community appropriate mixed-income developments.
• Serve a broad range of Rhode Island residents, including low-income, workforce, and deeply affordable housing needs.

The initiative builds on the Foundation’s Impact Investing model, which has extended $6 million in pre-development and site acquisition lines of credit to four nonprofit housing developers.

One of the first of those loans, made to NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley in 2018, has already supported 12 separate housing projects representing $176 million in investments in both new construction and the rehab of existing units, resulting in 35 homeownership units and over 350 affordable apartments.

More information about eligibility requirements, program details and how to apply for the new Early Stage Capital program is HERE.

The Rhode Island Foundation is the largest and most comprehensive funder of nonprofit organizations in Rhode Island. Through civic leadership, fundraising and grantmaking activities, together with partners and neighbors, the Foundation is helping to create progress that lasts.