Community Development Banking Helps Clients,
Communities Thrive Despite Challenging Economic Environment
NEW
YORK, Feb. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of
America Community Development Banking (CDB) today announced that it
provided $7.1 billion in debt and
equity financing last year to help build strong communities through
affordable housing and economic opportunities across the United States. This financing helped
create and preserve 11,000 housing units for individuals, families,
seniors, veterans, the formerly homeless and those with special
needs.
According to a 2023 report by the Joint Center for Housing
Studies at Harvard University,
"millions of households are now priced out of homeownership,
grappling with housing cost burdens, or lacking shelter
altogether."
"The need for affordable housing continues to grow. However,
affordable housing developers face the same macroeconomic headwinds
challenging other industries – higher interest rates, inflation and
supply chain issues," said Maria
Barry, Community Development Banking national executive at
Bank of America. "This requires our team to be creative, plan
for all scenarios and advise our clients on how to mitigate risk
and maximize results."
Three factors that help drive the creation of affordable
housing, include:
1) Strong partnerships – Whether they do
business locally or nationally, affordable housing developers are
dealing with rising costs due to interest rate fluctuations, supply
chain interruptions and rising construction and insurance costs.
Our banking team helps clients work through these challenges and
maximize the value of their businesses. CDB provides financing,
treasury and advisory services to optimize their companies, so
developers can focus on their mission of creating much-needed
affordable housing.
"Despite volatile financial markets, the one capital partner
that we can always rely on for their stability, leading financial
offerings and unmatched capacity is Bank of America," said
Gilbert Winn, Chief Executive
Officer of WinnCompanies. "Without question there have been
certain complex and high impact community housing developments that
would not have happened without the bank's financial partnership
and unique strength. Our national affordable and mixed-income
housing business is fortunate to be able to make Bank of America
our first call whenever we plan to pursue community
development."
2) Focus on families & attainable
housing – CDB explores innovative solutions to expand its
impact in communities. In 2023, it worked with Enterprise Community
Partners to launch a workforce housing fund. This $150 million fund will preserve 3,000+ housing
units for the "missing middle," or those earning between 80% to
120% area median income (AMI). These households earn too much to
qualify for affordable housing and too little to keep up with
rents. The fund has already closed two deals in metro Washington, D.C., and Miami, preserving rental affordability for
nearly 500 individuals and families.
"When a good home remains out of reach for millions of
families, preservation is an essential component to tackling our
nation's housing crisis," said Lori
Chatman, President, Capital, Enterprise Community
Partners. "Equally critical is working with a dedicated partner
like Bank of America Community Development Banking which brings
commitment and know-how along with an unparalleled network of
national partnerships. Together through the Middle-Income Housing
Preservation Fund, we are investing equity capital to help
mission-aligned housing providers prevent displacement while
keeping good homes affordable for the long term."
3) Supportive services & healthcare
access – CDB has a strong focus on developments that
incorporate resident services, including access to financial
education, and overall health and well-being through programs such
as: academic support, jobs readiness, training programs, family
programs, food education, access to healthy food, and other
critical supportive services. In 2023, CDB financed 4,500 housing
units that incorporated a health component. Though partnerships
with hospitals or health service providers, these developments
incorporated on-site care dedicated to health and wellness.
"Mercy Housing recognizes the link between stable housing and
good health and understands that you can't have one without the
other," said Ismael Guerrero, President &
CEO of Mercy Housing. "By prioritizing the need for
stable and affordable housing with onsite resident services, we are
elevating the health outcomes and quality of life for every
resident."
CDB is active in all 50 states. Since 2005, it has financed over
287,000 total housing units of which 247,000 are affordable.
Harnessing the strength and reach of Bank of America, our
banking and markets businesses provided an additional $500 million in financing to support multi-family
affordable housing. The bank also continued to support affordable
and sustainable homeownership through its $15 billion Community Homeownership
Commitment.
These efforts are part of the company's commitment to deploying
capital to address global issues outlined in the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Bank of America
Bank of America is one of the world's leading financial
institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market
businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking,
investing, asset management and other financial and risk management
products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience
in the United States, serving
approximately 69 million consumer and small business clients with
approximately 3,800 retail financial centers, approximately
15,000 ATMs (automated teller machines) and award-winning
digital banking with approximately 57 million verified digital
users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management,
corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range
of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions
and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers
industry-leading support to approximately 4 million small business
households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online
products and services. The company serves clients through
operations across the United
States, its territories and more than 35 countries. Bank of
America Corporation stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange
(NYSE: BAC).
For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements
and other important information, visit the Bank of America newsroom
and register for news email alerts.
Reporters may contact:
Anu Ahluwalia, Bank of America
Phone: 1.646.855.3375
anu.ahluwalia@bofa.com
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SOURCE Bank of America Corporation