Impact Seven Wins $100,000 to Launch Innovative Preservation Initiative in Wisconsin
(PHILADELPHIA, August 15, 2014) — The Wells Fargo NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance announced this morning that Impact Seven, an Almena, WI-based CDFI (community development financial institution), has won this year’s $100,000 NEXT Seed Capital Award for its strategy to preserve affordable housing for very low-income individuals and families in rural Wisconsin.
The NEXT Awards Selection Committee chose Impact Seven for the potential to scale its innovative financing product to preserve small, multifamily rental properties in rural Wisconsin. This unique program will preserve affordable housing financed originally through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Section 515 Loan Program. The USDA preservation incentives will expire on thousands of properties across the U.S. over the next few years, and Impact Seven’s pilot in Wisconsin may serve as a model to help solve this issue nationally.
With the Award, Impact Seven will fund a new, targeted program to help mission-based, nonprofit organizations acquire these expiring properties and keep them affordable for those with no other housing options. It will also help those seeking to sell these properties to navigate the complex process.
“Our goal is to preserve small, multifamily rental properties in rural Wisconsin where affordable rental housing is scarce and the demand for it is high,” said Brett Gerber, President and CEO of Impact Seven. ”The initial pilot will preserve and rehabilitate 120 units most at risk for critical neglect or conversion to market rate. By maintaining this aggressive pace, we can preserve as many as 50 percent of Wisconsin’s most needed and viable USDA 515-funded projects by 2020.”
Impact Seven helps low-income communities by providing housing and business financing, as well as property development and management in rural and distressed areas of Wisconsin. It is a member of Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), which presents the award, with generous funding from Wells Fargo.
“What’s innovative about this housing strategy is they’re working not just with buyers but also sellers to provide technical support and resources to help these transactions take place,” said Lesley Eckstein, executive vice president and head of Community Lending and Investment at Wells Fargo. “By pursuing this strategy, Impact Seven is helping to ensure that affordable and responsible financial products and services are available in underserved communities—a key reason Wells Fargo supports this important program.”
Each year through 2016, one CDFI with a promising idea for expanding its products and services to serve more low-income people and communities will win a $100,000 NEXT Seed Capital Award.
“Impact Seven’s strategy can serve as a model for the thousands of at-risk, rural subsidized housing properties—in Wisconsin and nationally,” said Mark Pinsky, President and CEO of OFN. “The model is replicable and preservation of affordable, rural housing is sorely needed. By scaling this product, Impact Seven and other CDFIs will preserve and provide rural affordable housing and opportunity for all.”
Remember to “join the cavalry” by subscribing to Devin’s content here.
