Two N.H. nonprofits win $3m for affordable housing loans
Two New Hampshire nonprofits that serve low-income communities have each snagged nearly $1.5 million from the U.S. Treasury through its Community Development Financial Institutions Fund. The New Hampshire Community Loan Fund and ROC USA Capital, both based in Concord, will each receive the maximum award of $1.45 million through the 2012 CDFI Fund.
Community Development Financial Institutions, or CDFIs, provide financial services and products to rural and urban low-income people and communities that otherwise lack adequate access to the resources. Awards are granted through an annual competitive application process.
Founded in 1983, the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund is a certified CDFI that provides lending and technical assistance to low-income people and the organizations throughout the state that serve them.It will use its award to expand its lending to homeowners in resident-owned communities.
Since 1984, the Community Loan Fund has provided loans and assistance to the residents of more than 100 trailer parks in the state. The loans allowed the residents to form cooperatives and purchase the parks, giving them greater protection from large rent increases and eliminating the possibility that they would be evicted if the land were sold to developers.The nonprofit recently introduced Welcome Home Loans, fixed-rate, long-term mortgages for homeowners and homebuyers in resident-owned communities or on their own land in New Hampshire.
ROC USA Capital — or Resident Ownership Capital LLC — was established in 2008 and is also a certified CDFI. It also provides affordable housing loans to resident corporations representing low-income homeowners to buy their manufactured home communities from private owners. The nonprofit, which is based in New Hampshire but operates throughout the U.S., will use the award for lending capital. In this year's funding round, the CDFI fund awarded nearly $187 million to 210 organizations in 41 states. The fund was created in 1994 to promote economic development in distressed communities. — KATHLEEN CALLAHAN/NEW HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS REVIEW
