Capital Impact Partners Awarded $70 Million in New Markets Tax Credits
Award Will Help Attract Private Sector Capital Where Investment Most Needed
Arlington, VA (November 17, 2016) —The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) has awarded Capital Impact Partners $70 million in New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) allocation. This allocation enhances Capital Impact’s ability to incentivize private sector investors to partner in financing projects that increase access to critical social services in distressed communities, spur economic development, and create jobs. Capital Impact will use this new allocation to finance high-impact projects in cities like Detroit, Los Angeles, and Richmond, VA.
“The New Markets Tax Credit Program is an important tool from the CDFI Fund that greatly increases our ability to make the kinds of strategic investments that help build communities of opportunity that break barriers to success,” said Ellis Carr, president and CEO of Capital Impact Partners. “We appreciate the continued recognition of the CDFI Fund for our work to finance projects that increase access to high-quality services for those most in need.”
Capital Impact Partners is an eight-time NMTC recipient – with those awards totaling more than $550 million. To date, the company has used NMTC allocations to support the financing of more than 60 transactions nationally that have increased access to health care, education, healthy foods, and the ability for seniors to age in their community with dignity.
“As a mission-driven lender, we’ve demonstrated how to strategically use New Markets Tax Credits to ensure that high impact projects that foster good health, economic development and interconnectedness receive the funding they need,” said Scott Sporte, chief lending officer at Capital Impact Partners. “It’s also important to note that the benefits created through this federal program far exceed any burden placed on taxpayers.”
An overview of the program produced by Capital Impact illustrates that for every $1 invested by the federal government, the NMTC program generates more than $8 in private investment. That financing has fueled millions of square feet of construction and thousands of jobs. In 2012 alone, the NMTC Program spurred $15.2 billion in economic activity, which in turn yielded $984 million in federal tax revenue and $542 million in state and local tax revenue —more than enough to offset the $800 million in tax revenue that the government used to for the tax credits that year.
The social impact of the program is illustrated by that fact that from 2003-2012, 76 percent of NMTC projects were located in severely distressed census tracts with poverty rates above 30 percent, median incomes below 60 percent of the area median income, or unemployment rates one-and-a-half times the national average.
”For the past 15 years, we have seen how the New Markets Tax Credit program improves the quality of life and economic prospects for low-income Americans,” said CDFI Fund Director Annie Donovan. “The historic $7 billion in tax credits awarded through the 2015-2016 round will support many more community projects and businesses nationwide.”
In addition to examples cited in their report, Capital Impact has used NMTCs to help finance a number of projects nationwide including:
Community Health Centers:
Capital Impact used $4.9 million in NMTC allocations toward the financing of the Meridian Center for Health operated by Neighborcare Health. This new 44,000 square foot federal qualified health center in Seattle, Wash replaced an aging facility and doubled their capacity to serve low-income and uninsured patients from 7,000 to 14,000 annually. The clinic will also include a “learning kitchen” that will help patients acquire the skills to prepare healthy meals. The project created 30 construction jobs and 38 new permanent jobs. The Seattle Investment Fund LLC and Wells Fargo, supported the transaction.
Healthy Food:
Capital Impact participated in a $5.8 million NMTC investment enabling Meals On Wheels of Tarrant County, in Texas, to build a new 61,000 square foot warehouse and kitchen facility. The nonprofit organization delivers nearly one million fresh, healthy meals annually to a predominantly low-income elderly population with limited ability to purchase and prepare food for themselves. The enhanced capacity will enable them to increase deliveries by 50 percent over the next few years, reaching thousands more individuals and providing at least 1.5 million meals annually. The organization will also expand its in-house nutrition and case-management services. Capital Impact partnered with JPMorgan Chase, Community Hospitality Healthcare Services, and Urban Action Community Development on this transaction, which will create 125 full-time jobs.
Charter Schools:
Capital Impact continued its relationship with Equitas Academy Charter Schools to support the building of a permanent middle school facility. The $8.2 million NMTC financing package was put together with ExEd and Pacific Charter School Development. This loan expands Equitas’ ability to provide an education for K-8 students in Pico Union, a primarily Latino neighborhood of Los Angeles. The new middle school will serve 350 students, 94 percent of whom qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.
Dignified Aging:
Capital Impact spearheaded the financing of a $17 million-dollar project, including the use of $2.5 million NMTC allocations, to build Colorado’s first ever GREEN HOUSE® Project.
A radically new, national model for skilled nursing care, Green House homes are designed from the ground up to look and feel like a real home for 10-12 residents, returning control, dignity and a sense of well-being to elders and their families, while providing high-quality, personalized care.
Built on the campus of the Mirasol Senior Living Community in Loveland, the project features six separate 7,500 sq. foot homes whose residents include a large percentage of Medicaid eligible elders. The Green House Homes at Mirasol are uniquely licensed together as one skilled nursing facility and able to serve elders requiring specialized twenty-four hour nursing care. The development created an estimated 72 construction jobs and 64 full-time jobs.
JPMorgan Chase, the Housing Authority of the City of Loveland, Colorado Division of Housing, Colorado Housing Investment Fund, Calvert Foundation, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and AARP Foundation all joined in to support this project.
Managed by the CDFI Fund, NMTC allocations make their way into the community through the following process:
- A community development entity (CDE) submits an application to the CDFI Fund requesting the authority to allocate a specific dollar amount of tax credits.
- If its application is approved, the CDE is awarded the authority to allocate tax credits to an investor.
- The investor chosen by the CDE receives a tax credit totaling 39 percent of the cost of the investment. The investor can claim that tax credit over a period of seven years.
- In exchange for those tax credits, the investor makes a qualified equity investment (QEI) in the CDE.
- The CDE must use the QEIs it receives from the investor to finance businesses or real estate projects in low-income communities where the poverty rate is 20% or higher, or the median income is 80% or lower of the area median income. The CDE also has the option of investing in other CDEs making loans in low-income areas.
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About Capital Impact Partners: Capital Impact Partners transforms underserved communities into strong, vibrant places of opportunity for people at every stage of life. We deliver strategic financing, incubate new social programs, and provide capacity-building to help ensure that low-to-moderate-income individuals have access to quality health care and education, healthy foods, affordable housing, and the ability to age with dignity. A nonprofit community development financial institution, Capital Impact Partners has disbursed more than $2 billion to revitalize communities over the last 30 years. Headquartered in Arlington, Va., Capital Impact Partners operates nationally, with local offices in Detroit, Mich., and Oakland, Calif. Learn more at www.capitalimpact.org
