AFFORDABLE HOUSING FUND LAUNCHED IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP CREATES $60 MILLION FUND TO PROVIDE ACQUISITION AND PREDEVELOPMENT FINANCING

Los Angeles, CA - February 12, 2010 – The County of Los Angeles has partnered with three nonprofit organizations and two financial institutions to deliver $60 million of low cost, flexible capital for affordable rental homes for low income families and individuals. The newly launched Los Angeles County Housing Innovation Fund (LACHIF) will provide loans to nonprofit and for-profit affordable housing developers to acquire land or existing properties. LACHIF loans can be up to 100% loan-to-value and carry interest only payments for a term of up to three years.

LACHIF’s first loan will help Abode Communities (Abode) acquire a vacant, fire-damaged building in Pasadena that will be rehabilitated to create 45 homes for low income seniors. Abode, an experienced nonprofit affordable housing developer, will use the $3.7 million acquisition loan from LACHIF along with a $2.6 million acquisition and predevelopment loan from the City of Pasadena to begin work on the Hudson Oaks Apartments. During the construction phase of the project, Abode will make extensive improvements to the existing building, which sustained significant damage in a fire in 2005 and was left unused until now.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors created LACHIF through the Homeless Prevention Initiative, which allocated $20 million to seed the fund.

The fund partners include the Community Development Commission of the County of Los Angeles (LACDC), the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF), Century Housing Corporation (Century) and the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH). Investors in the fund include LIIF, OneCalifornia Bank and Citi Community Capital, the fund’s largest investor at $20 million. LIIF is also the Fund Manager and Agent.

The initial $20 million from the Community Development Commission of the County of Los Angeles is being leveraged with an additional $40 million in private capital to create a $60 million revolving loan fund that can be accessed by nonprofit and for-profit developers, as well as public agencies, for projects throughout the county. By increasing capital access for developers, LACHIF will support the growth of quality, affordable housing opportunities for individuals and families most in need.

"The Los Angeles County Housing Innovation Fund will provide acquisition and predevelopment financing at very competitive rates," noted Lois Starr, Director of Housing Development and Preservation at the Community Development Commission. "LACHIF will generate much needed affordable housing throughout Los Angeles County. Additionally, through the development of affordable housing a number of construction jobs will also be created."

For more information about LACHIF, visit www.liifund.org/LAInnovationFund.

About the Community Development Commission of the County of Los Angeles
In 1982, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors consolidated three County entities – the Housing Authority, the Community Development Department, and the Redevelopment Agency – to form the Community Development Commission (CDC). The Board of Supervisors currently serves as the Commissioners of the CDC – which includes serving as the Commissioners of the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles (HACoLA) – setting policy for the agency. HACoLA also has a Housing Commission, which is composed of twelve advisory Commissioners. The five appointees by the Board of Supervisors are joined by six "tenant" Commissioners – who live in the CDC’s public housing sites or are Section 8 renters. Further, as a grantee of the Shelter + Care Program, we must obtain input from a person who is homeless or formerly homeless. To satisfy this requirement, one additional member was added to the Housing Commission. Today, the CDC continues to serve as the County’s affordable housing and community and economic development agency. The CDC’s wide-ranging programs benefit residents and business owners in unincorporated County areas and in various incorporated cities that participate in different CDC programs (these cities are called "participating cities"). Approximately one million of the County’s ten million residents live in unincorporated areas.

About the Low Income Investment Fund
Since 1984, the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) has served more than 700,000 people by providing over $750 million in financing and technical assistance to hundreds of community organizations serving the nation’s poorest and hardest-to-reach populations. LIIF’s primary program areas are affordable and supportive housing, child care and education facilities benefiting low income people and families. Over its history, LIIF has generated over $15 billion in societal and family benefits and provided the financing and technical assistance to create and preserve: 54,000 units of affordable housing; over 120,000 child care spaces; 43,000 spaces in schools; and 3.1 million square feet of community facilities and commercial space. LIIF has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C. For more information about LIIF, visit www.liifund.org.

About Century Housing Corporation
Century Housing invests in homes, education, and job training programs for low income individuals and families, including veterans and the homeless, so that they may have a dignified living environment and achieve economic independence. For more than 25 years, Century Housing has worked to improve the lives of and give hope to people throughout Southern California. Created as a public agency in 1982 and privatized as a nonprofit in 1995, Century’s primary business is early-term financing to develop affordable homes. Recognizing, however, that a home is not always enough, Century also provides construction job training, offers academic enrichment programs, runs two charter middle schools, and owns the nation’s largest campus serving formerly homeless veterans.

About Corporation for Supportive Housing
CSH’s mission is to help communities create permanent housing with services to prevent and end homelessness. CSH strives for a day when homelessness is no longer a routine occurrence and supportive housing is an accepted, understood, and easy-to-develop response. In coordination with broader national efforts to end homelessness, CSH will help communities create 150,000 units of supportive housing during the next decade. CSH brings together people, skills, and resources. We advance our mission by providing high-quality advice and development expertise, by making loans and grants to supportive housing sponsors, by strengthening the supportive housing industry, and by reforming public policy to make it easier to create and operate supportive housing.