New LIIF-Enterprise Partnership to Push for TOD
Low Income Investment Fund and Enterprise are forming a partnership to advance the cause of transit-oriented development nationally.
By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor
Washington, D.C.—Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) and Enterprise are forming a partnership to advance the cause of transit-oriented development (TOD) nationally. The partners will formally announce this new partnership, as well as an assortment of financing strategies for TOD projects, at the Rail-Volution conference this week in Washington, D.C.
Through the collaboration, LIIF, Enterprise Community Partners Inc. and Enterprise Community Loan Fund staff will work together to promote the creation of neighborhoods near public transit. The partners note that the need for such development is critical, since roughly three-quarters of all jobs in the United States are located five miles or more beyond the nation’s central business districts, while most low-income workers are concentrated in urban areas.
The partnership will build on LIIF and Enterprise’s previous collaborations in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. Last year, for example, the state of California awarded $3 million in funding from the State Energy Program to a partnership of the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing, Enterprise Community Partners and the LIIF. The award was the first of its kind to bring energy efficiency and green retrofits to Bay Area affordable housing, and will result in the retrofit of 26 buildings by the end of 2012.
More specific to TOD, earlier this year LIIF became the manager of the the Bay Area Transit Oriented Affordable Housing Fund, a $50 million fund for affordable housing near rail and bus lines. The Enterprise Community Loan Fund, among five other community development financial institutions, will originate loans for that TOD fund.
According to the LIIF and Enterprise, the new partnership will promote regional equity collaboratives to encourage planning for TOD projects; assess community financing needs; share knowledge and best practices to benefit the broader community development field; and develop and advocate for public policy that promotes TOD.