North Carolina Construction News staff writer
The Town of Chapel Hill, in collaboration with UNC Health and Self-Help Ventures Fund, has launched a new $20 million affordable housing loan fund aimed at addressing the critical need for affordable housing. This fund is expected to create or preserve at least 600 affordable housing units over the next two decades.
Two types of loans are available. Loans for preservation or creation of affordable housing may range from a minimum size of $500,000 up to $7 million and can either serve as 5-year bridge financing or 15-year permanent subordinate financing. As Fund Administrator, Self-Help will oversee the review, evaluation, and underwriting of loan applications and the monitoring of all loans issued.
Developers interested in applying for loans should contact the Self-Help Ventures Fund lending team at mu**************@*******lp.org.
“The Town is thrilled to launch this new tool to support the creation and preservation of affordable housing in Chapel Hill,” said Sarah Viñas, Director of the affordable housing and community connections department. “We appreciate UNC Health and Self-Help’s partnership on the Loan Fund.
“This is a great example of what we can accomplish together when we work across industries to address one of the community’s greatest challenges.”
The initiative comes after a successful partnership formed in 2023 when the Town of Chapel Hill and UNC Health committed $5.7 million in seed funding. Self-Help Ventures Fund, a national leader in community development, leveraged investments to secure additional capital from banking partners, resulting in the creation of the $20 million fund.
Below market loans are available for the acquisition, preservation, and creation of affordable housing projects.
“Affordable housing is an issue impacting the entire community,” said Janet Hadar, president of UNC Hospitals. “As individual entities we can’t solve this crisis alone, but by working together, we can make a more meaningful change and positively impact residents and the community. We look forward to seeing what the loan fund will accomplish.”