Client Stories
Tackling the Affordable Housing Crisis, One Community at a Time
Eden Housing’s Bay Area community for low-income seniors is among the first in California to use a hybrid financing structure.
Finding a home in the right neighborhood at the right price can be stressful for anyone, but it’s become a dire struggle for low-income households in the Bay Area, where affordable housing construction hasn’t kept pace with tech-fueled business and population growth.
In Oakland alone, the homeless population increased by 47 percent from 2017 to 2019. And there are nearly 130,000 homeless people across California—comprising 24 percent of the United States’ homeless population.
Nonprofits like Eden Housing, however, are quietly making headway on affordable housing construction in the metro area. Since 1968, the organization has grown from six community activists meeting at local coffee shops to a nonprofit organization employing hundreds at its Bay Area headquarters.
Eden Housing by the Numbers
- 11,437 residential units (165 developments) developed or acquired in the Bay Area
- 2,000+ additional units planned in the near future
- 4% and 9% tax credits financed construction of Pauline Weaver Senior Apartments
- 30%-50% of area median income earned by Pauline Weaver Senior Apartments’ residents
Financing Affordable Housing with A Hybrid Solution
JPMorgan Chase has worked alongside Eden Housing since 2010, developing 11 residential projects that aim to rebalance communities by providing low income residents access to modern, affordable housing. Among those communities is the Pauline Weaver Senior Apartments, a 90-unit, multifamily rental community for seniors who earn between 30 and 50 percent of the area median income.
Among the first projects in California to use a hybrid federal tax credit financing structure, it’s a unique study in how hybrid financing can be a vital tool in tackling the affordable housing crisis.
To fund the project, JPMorgan Chase and the Eden Housing team leveraged new regulations from the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, which provided 9 percent and 4 percent federal tax credits to make the transaction work. The deal closed in June 2017, only a few months after the new regulations were implemented.
Navigating the new regulation was a learning experience for everyone involved said Andy Madeira, Senior Vice President of Real Estate Development at Eden. But everyone was willing to work together to make the transaction work.
The mission of Eden Housing is to build and maintain high quality, well-managed, service-enhanced affordable housing communities that meet the needs of lower income families, seniors and persons with disabilities.
A Shared Commitment to Local Communities
In addition to having a strong working relationship, JPMorgan Chase shares Eden Housing’s mission and vision. And, like Eden, the firm is dedicated to supporting the communities in which it operates.
Members of the local JPMorgan Chase team regularly volunteer at Eden properties, from building garden beds in Oakland to running a National Night Out event for a senior community in San Jose. For Pauline Weaver’s grand opening, Chase volunteers assembled welcome-to-your-new-home kits filled with paper towels, sponges, dish soap and other household necessities.
“The firm hopes to finance more of Eden’s future communities,” said James Vossoughi, a banker in Community Development Banking. “Regardless, we’re going to continue volunteering with Eden Housing and supporting them in whatever they do.”
Head of Community Development Banking Alice Carr agreed. “It’s going to take groups like Eden Housing and professionals like Community Development Banking at JPMorgan Chase to put our heads together and figure out what are the next steps that we take to help solve this crisis.”
