The San Francisco Foundation’s Bay Area Community Impact Fund recently made a new $2 million loan to East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC) to provide much-needed affordable housing for the Bay Area. EBALDC is a critical partner in our mission, and we are thrilled to support their work.
A community-based, non-profit organization for over 45 years, EBALDC’s mission is to build healthy, vibrant neighborhoods in Oakland and the East Bay. They serve 6,000 people annually in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. 86% of EBALDC’s residents and program participants identify as people of color. 87% of EBALDC’s residential households report incomes at less than half the area median income (AMI). That means under ~$52k for an individual or ~$74k for a family of four.
EBALDC has an established pipeline of projects in early development that will provide affordable homes to East Bay families. Our investment provides early capital for these projects, which is challenging to obtain through conventional sources. This early capital funds the “predevelopment” expenses (architects, surveys, etc.) necessary for a project to secure a construction loan. Once secured, the construction loan covers these predevelopment expenses and frees up our investment to support other projects.
Without this type of early capital, these projects may never be built.
For example, EBALDC will use our loan to support an affordable housing development that will create 91 affordable housing units on East 12th Street near Lake Merritt in Oakland. This project will include studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments serving very low (20% AMI) to low-income (60% AMI) households. Twenty-three units are set aside as permanent supportive housing for homeless individuals and households.
EBALDC will use our $2 million loan to support predevelopment expenses for other affordable housing projects over the 10-year term of our loan. EBALDC expects to build or renovate more than 1,500 affordable housing units for low-income households in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties in the next ten years. Our investment will help build 600 of those units.
About EBALDC
EBALDC is known for developing and managing diverse, mixed-income complexes and communities while providing vital social and financial services to help give long-time, low-income residents the ability to stay in their neighborhoods. Under its “Healthy Neighborhoods Approach,” EBALDC focuses its development on areas that can leverage other neighborhood health assets (e.g., transit, preschool centers, and grocery stores). They collaborate with multiple stakeholders to address the unique social conditions of each focus neighborhood. Their approach centers on three major areas:
- Real Estate Development. To serve their focus neighborhoods, EBALDC develops affordable housing.
- Community Building. To address the social conditions impacting people’s well-being, EBALDC provides residents and community members a range of services and programs so they can thrive:
- Resident & Community Services provides EBALDC residents with benefits navigation, counseling, youth programs, and senior services, among others
- Economic Opportunities programs available to community members and include participation in EBALDC’s award-winning Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, and receiving one-on-one financial coaching through SparkPoint Oakland, where EBALDC is the lead agency
- Neighborhood Collaborations bring together residents, community-based organizations, and public agencies across sectors to build neighborhoods of opportunity
- Mixed Use Developments: EBALDC develops affordable spaces for community-serving non-profits, retail businesses, and service providers that hire and serve residents, such as Swan’s Marketplace (restaurants, office space, and housing), Preservation Park (rentable space for cultural, social, and environmental aims), and Asian Resource Center (non-profits providing services to the Chinatown neighborhood).
About BACIF
SFF’s Bay Area Community Impact Fund uses foundation and donor funds to make impact investments in organizations and projects that align with our equity agenda. Our low-interest, long-term loans enable organizations to expand their activities and finance high-impact projects. As loans are repaid, our fund makes new investments, recycling capital back into communities. We also invest in other mission-aligned assets, such as insured deposits in local community banks and credit unions.
For more information about investing in the Bay Area Community Impact Fund, contact the Philanthropy and Gift Planning team at (415) 733-8590 or email donorservices[at]sff.org.
