January 28, 2020 (San Francisco, CA) – JPMorgan Chase announced today a $22 million investment to develop and preserve affordable housing in San Francisco and Oakland as part of the firm’s $75 million, five-year commitment to the Bay Area. This new investment, which combines long-term, low-cost loans and philanthropy, will provide more affordable housing, protect local residents from displacement and apply learnings from the firm’s investment in other cities. The investment announced today will leverage new policy changes to advance solutions that tackle the region’s affordable housing challenges.
“Neighborhoods thrive when people have access to affordable housing. Our investment will help address the serious and ongoing challenges of displacement and affordability by applying proven approaches that are working in the Bay Area and we have helped develop in other cities,” said Allen Fernandez Smith, Head of West Region Philanthropy, JPMorgan Chase. “There is a long way to go to tackle these issues, but we’re confident that with the right partners and solutions more people can benefit from the region’s growth.”
“The challenges of housing affordability are too big for any of us to solve on our own, and we’re grateful to the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund for working with the City to support the construction and preservation of permanently affordable housing—especially for our most vulnerable residents,” said San Francisco Mayor London N. Breed. “This new investment from JPMorgan Chase will allow SFHAF to continue their important work of helping San Franciscans remain in their homes.”
“This investment is a great example of what’s possible when business and local organizations work side by side to take on one of the biggest challenges facing the city of Oakland,” said Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. “We’re encouraged by the work JPMorgan Chase and others are doing here to combat displacement, and support our ongoing affordability efforts.”
$22 Million Affordable Housing Investment
Local Bay Area nonprofits will deploy the new investment using debt and equity to preserve existing and develop new affordable multi-family housing. Equity capital will be used only by developers committed to making affordable homes healthier for residents and more environmentally sound. Debt funds, provided by JPMorgan Chase, will help address a long-standing local challenge of preserving the affordability of small site properties in diverse neighborhoods, which are vulnerable to market pressures resulting in rising rents, increased evictions and property sales.
The total impact of this $22 million investment, along with assistance from other investors, is projected to support the preservation and creation of over 2,250 affordable residential units, commercial units, and underutilized space converted to new affordable housing units:
- $15 million: low-cost, long-term loan to the Housing for Health Fund (HFHF). Anchored by $30 million in equity from Kaiser Permanente and managed by Enterprise Community Investment, the $45 million fund will provide much-needed equity to help developers more quickly acquire housing and ensure it is affordable. HFHF will invest the majority of its capital in the City of Oakland and remaining funds will be invested across Northern and Central California counties.
- $6 million: low-cost, long-term loan to San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund (SFHAF). This nonprofit community development financial institution (CDFI) will lend these funds to preserve the affordability of small site properties the City and County of San Francisco.
- $1 million: philanthropic investment to East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC) to support anti-displacement efforts and development in Oakland, including testing modular construction as a way to expedite projects and decrease costs.
“We are so excited to have our first co-investor in the Housing for Health Fund, and so proud that it is JPMorgan Chase, who share in our values of creating thriving, equitable communities,” said Bechara Choucair, MD, chief community health officer, Kaiser Permanente. “Expanding the fund to $45M will allow us to preserve hundreds more units across the Bay Area and protect residents from risks of displacement and the negative health impacts of housing instability and homelessness.”
“Enterprise leads a shift in making a community’s health a central priority in how affordable homes are developed and preserved,” said Priscilla Almodovar, Chief Executive Officer, Enterprise Community Partners. “JPMorgan Chase is providing much-needed capital for the creation of affordable homes in the Bay Area. This will result in improved health, well-being and financial stability for people, leaving them with additional resources for medical bills and other needs.”
The loan to SFHAF will first be used to support the rehabilitation and construction of 11 new units of permanently affordable housing at 1535 Jackson Street in the Polk Gulch neighborhood. Chinatown Community Development Corporation (Chinatown CDC) has a 42-year history of providing culturally-appropriate services and housing solutions to the needs of community members. It acquired this mixed-use property in May 2019. The building included 19 Single Room Occupancy (SRO) units and a ground-floor community space, formerly home to the Chinese Community Church. The building is currently occupied by extremely low-income senior tenants with average household incomes of approximately 20 percent area median income (AMI). Construction on the 11 new units on the ground floor of the building will begin in January 2020, supported by the loan to SFHAF.
"We are grateful for JPMorgan Chase’s support to accelerate critical housing preservation and production. Their commitment will allow us to fund the acquisition of affordable homes across the city - preventing displacement of long-term residents - and to build new affordable units in innovative and cost-effective ways. Thank you for helping us advance our mission to protect the diversity and vibrancy of San Francisco," said Rebecca Foster, Chief Executive Officer, SFHAF.
“The severity of our housing crisis requires new and innovative solutions. We are delighted and grateful to have support from JP Morgan Chase to accelerate new approaches to addressing displacement in Oakland and beyond,” said Joshua Simon, Executive Director, EBALDC.
$75 Million Bay Area Commitment
JPMorgan Chase’s $75 million commitment to the Bay Area builds on the firm’s $25 million commitment made in 2016, bringing the total to $100 million in business and philanthropic investments by 2024. The firm’s initial $25 million investment focused on creating inclusive growth across the Bay Area and helped make an early local impact:
- 1,937 people participated in workforce training programs
- 343 units of affordable housing created or preserved
- 825 people received services to improve their financial health
- 1,992 jobs created or retained
- 1,778 business received capital or technical assistance
The new $75 million commitment is part of JPMorgan Chase’s AdvancingCities, a $500 million initiative to drive inclusive growth and create greater economic opportunity in cities across the world by combining the firm’s lending capital, philanthropic capital, policy solutions and business expertise. This effort is financing critical projects, helping more people benefit from economic growth and leveraging outside capital to invest a total of $1.5 billion in cities.
Locally, it will focus on the unique challenges of affordability and displacement facing Oakland and San Francisco and ways to create economic opportunity for more people. The firm will also apply learnings from its investments in other cities including Detroit, Chicago’s South and West Sides, the Greater Washington, D.C. region and Greater Paris, working closely and collaborating with local business and community leaders to develop solutions and attract additional investment.
Over the next several years, the firm, working with local partners, will continue to direct its Bay Area investments to support four key drivers of inclusive growth: equipping workers with critical job skills, providing capital and expertise that women and minority entrepreneurs need to grow their businesses, investing in new housing models and locally-driven solutions to promoting thriving neighborhoods, and helping families build strong financial futures.
JPMorgan Chase’s philanthropic investments already include the creation of a local Entrepreneurs of Color Fund to provide minority-owned small businesses with low-cost capital, critical job training for underserved populations to help with construction of the Chase Center, and helping local small businesses avoid displacement.
History in the Bay Area
JPMorgan Chase has been serving the Bay Area community for more than 130 years, and has worked to understand the needs of the community and make strategic investments to help all residents grow with the region. Over the last 10 years, the firm has nearly doubled the number of Chase branches and has nearly 3,000 employees serving more than 2.6 million customers in the Bay Area. Employees earn a minimum wage of $18 an hour and in 2018 alone, JPMorgan Chase facilitated or directly financed over $2 billion in housing, transportation, and healthcare projects for San Francisco and Oakland, including over $800 million in loans for the development of more than 6,000 affordable housing units.
Over the past 5 years, the firm’s Community Development Banking business has committed almost $1 billion in affordable housing finance and New Market Tax Credits investment in the Bay Area. This commitment has helped develop or preserve over 4,000 units of affordable housing, in addition to supporting the creation and revitalization of education, manufacturing and arts facilities, and health and social service centers.
2019 marked the opening of Chase Center, which JPMorgan Chase sees as a symbol of the firm’s commitment to the Bay Area. To help ensure members of the community had a chance to share in the economic opportunity created by the construction of Chase Center, the firm extended its job training efforts to a total of nearly 2,000 Bay Area residents, including three rounds of construction pre-apprenticeships and specialized trades training for contractors to hire local workers in the construction of Chase Center and other development sites throughout San Francisco.
About JPMorgan Chase & Co.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.7 trillion and operations worldwide. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing, and asset management. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase & Co. serves millions of consumers in the United States and many of the world's most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients under its J.P. Morgan and Chase brands. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.