Merritt Community Capital Corporation

LISC DONOR OF THE MONTH –  NOVEMBER 2022

LISC is proud to partner with Merritt Community Capital Corporation as we work to increase affordable housing availability in Los Angeles. In 2021, almost 500,000 low-income renter households in the county did not have access to an affordable home, and over three-quarters of extremely low-income households paid more than half their income on housing.

For more than thirty years, Merritt Community Capital Corporation has provided equity capital for affordable housing throughout California. In this time, Merritt has created more than 11,000 affordable homes, housing over 29,700 people in the state through its work with developers and funders like LISC.

Through a generous three-year grant from Merritt as part of their Commitment to California initiative, LISC will be able to expand its Housing Development Training Institute (HDTI) program significantly. HDTI works with community-based nonprofit organizations that might not have the internal resources to learn about affordable housing development strategies and techniques. Through the program, enrollees work on a current housing development and increase their project management skillset, while creating connections with peers who can offer support and resources to each other. This training will build the affordable housing development capacity of project managers across California and increase local nonprofits’ ability to produce and preserve affordable housing.

“Merritt knows the importance of a training program like HDTI and sees the impact this training makes on the participants. We launched Commitment to California to help attract, train, and retain professionals in affordable housing because we know that solving the affordable housing crisis requires significant investments in the next generation of leaders,” said Ari Beliak, Merritt’s President, and CEO. “Merritt is thrilled for our partnership with LISC and the support we are providing to HDTI.”

We are grateful for this valuable support from Merritt Community Capital and look forward to continuing our partnership in increasing affordable housing across California. Learn more about HDTI and the people involved:

• HDTI In Focus: Building and Preserving Affordable Housing for California’s Rural Communities
• Housing Development Training Institute: A look back as we look forward
• HDTI in Focus: Meet Gabriela Vega

Learn more about Merritt’s impact in their 2021 Annual Report.

Follow the link to the original article: Donor of the Month | Local Initiatives Support Corporation (lisc.org)