PROVIDENCE – In 2015 the national branch of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation invested $1.3 billion in grants, loans and equity to projects, $315 million of which was invested into local Rhode Island housing projects, according to the organization’s annual report released earlier this month.
Jeanne Cola, executive director of LISC Rhode Island, explained last year the state launched its Invest in RI campaign with a focus on housing and economic development. In conjunction with the campaign, LISC Rhode Island committed to invest $25 million to the state between September 2015 and December 2016 in honor of the organization’s 25-year history in Rhode Island.
Cola said the organization expects to exceed its investment goal.
“This commitment is even more significant today as a recently released housing report, ‘Projecting Rhode Island’s Future Housing Needs’ addresses the 35,000 housing units that will be necessary to support Rhode Island’s projected growth,” she said.
According to the report 77 percent of Providence’s Upper South Side neighborhood residents live below the poverty line and are suffering from a severe lack of affordable housing. Through Revitalize Southside, a partnership project between LISC and Stop Wasting Abandoned Property, 26 new, affordable units were created using Low Income Housing Tax Credits and 27 units at Providence Tanner, a development of Victorian-style homes funded by the National Equity Fund, were refurbished.
Two real estate offices, accounting for 1,600 square feet, will be included in the new units and will be leased by SWAP as shop space for area businesses. In addition, a third new-build will include commercial space, which will be leased for community use.
The $3.5 million invested in Rhode Island in 2015 leveraged $1.2 billion toward 2 million square feet of retail and community space and 7,781 affordable homes.
Money invested in projects across the nation last year led to $4.2 billion in investment, 21,000 affordable homes and 3.3 million square feet of commercial, retail and community space.
