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This Best Practice is one of
the Best Practices for Human Settlements presented in the MOST Clearing House Best Practices Database. |
|
This Best Practice is one of
the Best Practices for Human Settlements presented in the MOST Clearing House Best Practices Database. |
| Keywords: | Economic Development |
| Poverty Eradication |
BackgroundThe World/BRIDGE initiative addresses the acute shortage of capital available for investment, particularly by non-profits and NGOs, in poverty-stricken areas. It directly challenges the widely held perceptions of lenders and investors that such investments are characterized by extreme risk and therefore, must be relegated to the realm of token charitable donations rather than sound, full-scale business investments. NarrativeThe innovation embodied in the World/BRIDGE initiative is the successful inclusion of public pension fund financing for affordable housing for low- and very low-income households. Prior to this $340 million dollar initiative, pension funds had regarded loans and investments in low-income areas as being "too risky" to meet prudent fiduciary standards. Now, as a result of the initiative, two of the United States' largest pensions agreed for the first time to invest in construction loans for non-profit affordable housing, much of it in inner-city, depressed, minority neighborhoods. Impact
SustainabilityThe commitment of pensions, with their enormous potential for world-wide investment, represent a vast new source of prudent and productive capital, first starting in California and possibly moving beyond to national and/or global endeavors. Since the conception of the program in early 1993, linked investments, both direct and indirect, have totaled close to $150 million. ContactBRIDGE Housing Corporation SponsorBRIDGE Housing Corporation PartnersWorld Savings and Loan Association
Alan Stein |
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