MARCH 2022. Weave Social Finance, LLC (Weave) has been awarded $5 million from the Colorado Department of Housing to directly support the development of affordable housing in the state. Weave was selected by the Colorado Department of Local Affairs to receive Affordable Housing Investment Fund funding made available through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and allocated by the Colorado General Assembly.
Weave will use its Colorado Housing Accelerator Initiative (CHAI) program to support the development of affordable housing. The CHAI program’s objective is to speed the funding of affordable housing projects across Colorado by pooling mission-driven capital and deploying it to housing projects statewide through both debt and equity funding.
The work of Weave and CHAI supplements important existing programs – such as Low Income Housing Tax Credits – by focusing on “missing middle” households and by helping renters build wealth through an innovative Tenant Equity Vehicle. “Missing middle” households are those that earn too much to qualify for most publicly subsidized affordable housing but not enough to be able to afford market-priced housing in their communities.
“We are thrilled to be selected,” said Abby Murray, managing director of Weave and co-founder of CHAI. “This is a major vote of confidence from the State in the role of pooled-fund vehicles to address the challenge of middle-income housing in Colorado. We look forward to quickly and effectively putting these funds to work to help meet critical housing needs.”
“For a long time, affordable housing financing tools have focused on the lowest-income households with the expectation that the market would provide options for the remaining households,” noted Ed Briscoe, founder of Weave and investment manager for CHAI’s debt and equty funds. “But private markets don’t offer a profit incentive to meet all housing demand in a community, especially that of middle-income families. Social enterprises and public-private partnerships, which balance affordability and profitability, are critical to solving our housing shortage.”
###
ABOUT WEAVE SOCIAL FINANCE
Weave Social Finance, LLC, specializes in facilitating “triple bottom line” impact investments in affordable housing and early-stage businesses. Weave was founded in Denver in 2012 and is the sponsor and investment manager of the Colorado Housing Accelerator Initiative. Learn more about Weave at www.weavefinance.com.
ABOUT COLORADO HOUSING ACCELERATOR INITIATIVE
The Colorado Housing Accelerator Initiative is the housing investment practice of Weave Social Finance, LLC. CHAI is an impact-first social enterprise that pools mission-driven capital and deploys it to middle-income housing projects in Colorado through both debt and equity funding. Beginning in 2020, Weave Social Finance incubated the CHAI program as part of its regional impact investment strategy.
Learn more about CHAI at www.chaifunds.com.
###
CONTACT
team@weavefinance.com