Financing affordable housing is not an easy endeavor, and many projects end up with funding gaps that impede them from moving forward. Enter the Evergreen Impact Housing Fund (EIHF), a social impact investment fund managed by the Seattle Foundation that delivers last dollar funding to affordable housing projects. EIHF is a first of its kind model, and according to Kris Hermanns, Chief Impact Officer at Seattle Foundation, it is attracting national attention.
“EIHF has made a tremendous impact — making four, large-scale affordable housing projects possible in less than 12 months. Those projects will provide nearly 750 affordable housing units for thousands of people. We’re extremely excited about this progress,” Hermanns said in an email to The Urbanist.
For these projects, $34.9 million in capital from EIHF was used to leverage another $276.2 million in private and public capital, allowing for developers to close on financing and begin construction.
“EIHF provides a streamlined and efficient mechanism to bring in new, innovative capital from across sectors, especially as we all continue to experience evolving pricing and inflation in the market. EIHF provides a necessary funding mechanism to make these housing deals happen,” Hermanns said.
A closer look at Evergreen Impact Housing Fund’s investments
The most recent project to receive last dollar funding from EIHF was Watershed, a 145-home development in Renton affordable to households earning an average of 50-60% of the King County annual median income (AMI), which equates to about $71,170 in annual income for a family of four.
Because many of the homes will have two or three bedrooms, Watershed is expected to house more than 350 people when it begins welcoming residents in late 2023. The development is located close to schools, shopping, parks, and the South Renton Transit center, making it an attractive option for working families. It is also the first of its kind in the state to be constructed under a new building code that requires using sustainable materials and an energy efficient design.