In the past year, Austin’s leaders have affirmed that the city’s affordable housing crisis is a top priority that must be addressed. There are many ways that City Hall, the business community, and nonprofit partners can come together to find meaningful solutions, and I was fortunate to witness a product of this collaboration at the ribbon cutting for the Laurel Creek Apartments, the most recently completed project from Austin-based nonprofit Foundation Communities. I had the opportunity to join Mayor Steve Adler, Foundation Communities Executive Director Walter Moreau, and leaders from St. David’s Foundation and Austin FC who also helped to fund the project.

Our city is not alone in facing this issue. Across the country, increased housing costs have outpaced growth in income, meaning that any long-term, systemic solution must address both housing costs and individual’s economic mobility. According to projections from Enterprise Community Partners and the Joint Center for Housing Studies, even if rent growth matches income growth, the number of housing-insecure renters is expected to increase by 1.3 million households by 2025 – an increase of more than 10 percent.

Photo caption: Laurel Creek Apartments offers 88 deeply affordable units with access to multiple on-site services and amenities, including wellness programs and free after-school and summer programming for children living on-site, in a transit-connected area of north Austin.

Austin has made recent headlines for being one of the least affordable cities in the country. As new businesses and jobs continue to relocate to Austin, the need for affordable housing becomes even more critical.

Bank of America has made it a priority to support nonprofit partners working to mitigate housing insecurity and increase economic mobility as well as finance affordable housing projects as we work to deliver progress on one of society’s biggest challenges. In 2021, we provided more than $1.8 million in grants for local nonprofits, including organizations addressing housing and affordability issues such as local Habitat for Humanity chapters, Foundation Communities and Frameworks Community Development Corp. Our efforts to be part of the solution here in Austin align with Bank of America’s larger commitment to invest $1.25B across the country to advance racial equality and economic opportunity.

Our Community Development Banking (CDB) is addressing affordability issues here in Austin, like through our work with Foundation Communities, and across the country. Through CDB, we take a holistic approach to provide safe affordable housing, educational opportunities, and economic development by providing a combination of loans, tax credit equity investments, or other real estate development solutions. We’ve seen significant benefits and achievements as a result of providing more access to safe, affordable housing including increased high school graduation rates, employment, and quality of health, which help build strong and healthy communities.

In 2021, Bank of America contributed $7 billion in affordable housing and economic development financing, with CBD providing $6.6 billion in loans, tax credit equity investments, and other real estate development solutions, surpassing a previous record of $5.9 billion in financing. Our CBD-financed developments produced more than 13,000 housing units, of which 90 percent were affordable housing units. This included 3,200 units for seniors and 3,400 units for formerly homeless, veterans or those with special needs. CDB also provided more than $368 million in financing to minority- or woman-led affordable housing developers, which resulted in 1,500 affordable housing units.

Additionally, CDB deployed $4.1 billion in debt commitments and $2.5 billion in investments to help build strong, sustainable communities through affordable housing and economic development across the country.

This work is truly brought to life when projects like the Laurel Creek Apartments open their doors to residents and we hear about the tremendous impact having a stable home has on members of our community. Evelyn Chase, a resident at Laurel Creek and mom of three, shared her story with attendees at the ribbon cutting last month, stating “So many doors have been closed in our faces…I can [now] lock our door and say, girls, son, we are home and we’re all safe.”

Whether it’s through philanthropic support to nonprofit partners, financing affordable housing or helping Austinites achieve the dream of homeownership with down payment and closing cost grants, we recognize the transformative impact of having a place to call home. We look forward to continuing to partner with the city leaders, nonprofits, businesses and volunteers working tirelessly to develop solutions to close the racial wealth gap and provide economic mobility through affordable housing.