JPMorgan Chase reported a new milestone for its push to pump billions into projects meant to shore up affordability across U.S. housing markets.
The bank originated more than $5 billion in debt and equity tied to affordable housing through the third quarter, a push executives say is designed to both create and preserve roughly 39,000 units nationwide, the Commercial Observer reported.
The figures mark the latest tranche of a four-year effort that has put more than $50 billion of capital into the sector; that earlier wave helped support or maintain more than 410,000 affordable units across the country, according to the bank.
Kurt Stuart, JPMorgan’s co-head of commercial term lending, told the outlet that the firm is taking an interest in affordable housing because of the potential fallout from an undersupplied market. With mobility, consumer spending and local business growth all tied to stable housing stock, the bank argues the crisis is a macroeconomic drag.
Stuart said the bank was using a “multipronged” strategy, mixing construction debt, term loans, low-income housing tax credits and other tax-oriented investments to make deals pencil where traditional market financing often falls short.
Recent deals show the bank spreading capital across markets and product types. It financed a $38 million rehabilitation of a supportive housing building in Upper Manhattan, a $189 million affordable project in the Bronx and a $65 million construction loan for a 290-unit complex in East Hollywood.
The firm is pairing that investment activity with philanthropic dollars. It announced $40 million last week, split between grants and flexible impact loans directed to groups including resident-ownership advocate Roc USA and affordable housing heavyweight Enterprise Community Partners.
Stuart pointed to New York’s aging housing stock as a microcosm of the national challenge. A third of the city’s homes date back more than a century, a preservation job that demands long-range capital layers beyond ground-up construction.
With the country facing an estimated 5.5 million-unit shortfall, Stuart said the bank expects to stay active.
“We’ll be supporters of this space for a very long time,” he told the Observer.— Holden Walter-Warner
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