Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago Names Community Investment Corporation (CIC) Community First® Fund Partner; CIC Receives $9 Million, 10-Year Loan
CHICAGO, March 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago (Bank) today announced that Community Investment Corporation (CIC), a community development financial institution located in Chicago, Illinois, has been named a partner of the Community First® Fund and is the recipient of a $9 million, 10-year loan. The Community First Fund is a $50 million revolving loan fund that provides direct support to community development financial institutions, community development loan funds, and state housing finance agencies serving Illinois and Wisconsin.
"The preservation of existing affordable rental housing is extremely important to local economies throughout the Chicagoland area," said Suzi Thackston, Community Investment Officer, Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago. "CIC provides critical lending to help fill credit gaps to address this need, and we are excited to have CIC as a Community First Fund partner."
CIC is Chicagoland's leading lender to small business entrepreneurs who rehabilitate multifamily housing properties. Since 1984, CIC has provided more than $1.2 billion to acquire, rehab, and preserve 55,000 units of affordable housing for more than 130,000 Chicago metropolitan residents. The Multifamily Loan Program is the foundation of CIC's activities; the program supports a market niche of privately owned multifamily rental housing that constitutes the vast majority of affordable rental housing in Chicago.
"CIC is thrilled to join with the Community First Fund and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago," said Jack Markowski, President, CIC. "This partnership will help ensure a predictable, stable source of capital to continue CIC's multifamily lending. Access to funds such as these makes it possible for CIC to remain the Chicago region's leading multifamily rehab lender for the preservation of affordable housing."
Funding will be used by CIC to support its Multifamily Loan Program and preserve approximately 90,000 affordable housing units over the next 10 years; all units will be affordable for persons at or below 80% AMI.
"The Community First Fund loan will enable CIC to continue its vital mission of providing credit to rehab and preserve multifamily housing in Chicago's low- and moderate-income communities," Markowski added. "It will enable us to continue our support for small business entrepreneurs, the multifamily building owners who are our core customers and who provide the majority of affordable rental housing in the region."
"CIC not only rehabs buildings, but it also helps neighborhoods thrive by providing tenants with a renewed sense of pride in the place they call home," said Thackston. "We look forward to our partnership with CIC and supporting its mission to revitalize Chicagoland communities into better places to live, work, and do business."
The Community First Fund is unique in the Federal Home Loan Bank System and provides organizations with lower-interest-rate, longer-term financing that focuses on expanding their capacity for affordable housing and economic development lending in the communities they serve. Because the Community First Fund is a revolving loan fund, the Bank expects to be able to continue lending as loans are repaid, extending the life of the fund. The Community First Fund is separate from the Bank's Community Investment Cash Advances lending program. In addition, it is funded separately from the Bank's traditional grant programs—the competitive Affordable Housing Program and Downpayment Plus® Programs—which will continue to be funded by the Bank's previous year's net earnings.
About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago is a $71.8 billion wholesale bank serving the needs of member housing finance institutions located in Illinois and Wisconsin. Our mission is to partner with our member shareholders to provide them competitively priced funding, a reasonable return on their investment, and support for community investment activities.
The U.S. Congress created the Federal Home Loan Bank System, which includes 12 Federal Home Loan Banks, in 1932 to promote housing finance, but each Bank is wholly owned by its member institutions. For more information about the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, please visit www.fhlbc.com or @FHLBC on Twitter. "Community First" and "Downpayment Plus" are registered trademarks of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago.
About Community Investment Corporation
Community Investment Corporation (CIC) is the Chicago metropolitan region's leading multifamily rehab lender for the acquisition, rehabilitation, and preservation of affordable rental housing. Since 1984, CIC has provided more than $1.2 billion to acquire, rehab and preserve 55,000 units of affordable housing for more than 130,000 metro Chicago residents. CIC programs also include the Energy Savers Loan Fund, the 1-4 Unit Rental Redevelopment Loan Program, the Property Management Training Program and the Troubled Buildings Initiative. CIC also coordinates The Preservation Compact, a collaboration of the region's public, private, and non-profit leaders dedicated to preserving affordable rental housing in Cook County. For more information, see www.cicchicago.com.
SOURCE Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago; Community Investment Corporation
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