VCDF awarded $4 million by U.S. Treasury in Capital Magnet Funds to support affordable housing

Oct. 4, 2023 — The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) awarded the Virginia Community Development Fund (VCDF) $4 million from the Treasury Department’s Capital Magnet Fund (CMF). VCDF’s award will support the development of affordable housing in communities across VA and WV. 

Over 140 organizations applied for the FY 2023 round of CMF funding totaling $321.2 million. VCDF was one of 52 organizations to receive an award and one of 29 CDFIs to receive an award. These grants will help awardees, all nonprofits and/or CDFIs, develop more than 32,700 affordable housing units for low-income families and economically distressed communities.  

This is VCDF’s second CMF award. The grant will help finance high-quality affordable rental housing in communities where developers are hard-pressed to receive financing from traditional sources. VCDF will disperse these funds in the form of low-interest construction loans to reduce project costs during construction and supplement the gaps resulting from conventional loan-to-value underwriting and higher interest rates.  

“VCDF is very grateful to receive a second award of CMF and we have a ready pipeline of projects to consider so that we can get funds deployed as soon as possible,” said Laura Dupuy, VCDF’s Loan Fund Director.  

VCDF’s vision is to grow its lending capacity to provide more low-cost loans to developers, addressing barriers in affordable housing development by relieving the reliance on more costly sources. The CMF award will allow VCDF to take a larger part in financing projects and offer creative options to partners to increase affordable housing for low-income households in need. 

“The FY 2023 CMF awards will provide Community Development Financial Institutions and nonprofit housing organizations with the critical resources they need to expand the availability of affordable housing for thousands of families and individuals in need across the country,” said Acting CDFI Fund Director Marcia Sigal in a press release from the CDFI Fund. “Today’s awards are projected to leverage more than $11.1 billion in private and public sector resources, all of which will be focused on addressing the shortfall in affordable housing that persists throughout our nation’s distressed and underserved communities.” 

VCDF is the lending affiliate of VCDC, a non-profit low-income housing tax credit syndicator with over 30 years of experience connecting developers, investors, and communities with resources to create thriving neighborhoods that benefit all residents. VCDF shares VCDC’s mission of delivering equity and loans to affordable housing developers to meet the growing housing and affordability needs in our service area of VA and WV.  

The Capital Magnet Fund offers competitively awarded grants to organizations that create and preserve affordable housing and community service facilities for low-income households and economically distressed communities nationwide. To date, the CMF has created over 43,000 affordable homes, including more than 37,600 rental housing units and 5,500 homeowner-occupied units.  

Read more about the CMF awards here: FY 2023 Capital Magnet Fund Award Book