Goldman commits $61M to New York City affordable housing

Goldman Sach’s Urban Investment Group is putting $61 million into rehabilitating affordable housing in Harlem, Brooklyn and the Bronx through the New York Equity Fund, a partnership between the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development and two affordable housing non-profits. The investment, which is the largest the 20-year-old NYEF has ever received, will allow for the restoration of 568 units in 47 buildings, with work expected to begin in just a few weeks and finish by 2011. NYEF has invested $1.6 billion in the city to date, having built 24,000 apartments designated for families earning less than 60 percent of the area’s median income. “It is important that Goldman Sachs stepped up to the plate and invested in the fund at a time when it is hard to raise capital,” said Abby Jo Sigal, vice president and New York director of Enterprise Community Partners, one of the non-profits affiliated with NYEF. Goldman’s UIG has previously played a role in funding more than 3,100 projects throughout the city. [Crain’s]