Funding affordable, transit-oriented development in California.

In collaboration with the Oakland, California-based Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), several foundations and other financial institutions, Citi has helped capitalize a new $50 million revolving loan fund aimed at creating affordable housing near rail and bus lines in the San Francisco Bay area. Developers will be able to tap the fund to finance the acquisition of land on which to build.

The MTC estimates that developers will be able to use the fund to purchase 20 to 30 acres in the region, supporting the development of up to 3,800 units of affordable housing in transit-rich areas. The Low Income Investment Fund, a local Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), is expected to close the first deal this spring to purchase a parking lot in San Francisco's Tenderloin district on which to build a 14-story complex, including affordable family apartments and the area's first full-service grocery store.

The fund, called the Bay Area Transit Oriented Affordable Housing Fund, will operate for at least 10 years, and is modeled on similar funds established in Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Orleans and New York. In announcing the new fund, to which Citi Community Capital contributed $12.5 million, Lori Chatman, president of the Enterprise Community Loan Fund, another of the participating CDFIs, said, "Ultimately, people will have greater access to jobs and enjoy health and environmental benefits, all because they're able to live on transit lines and in a home they can afford."