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Posted on January 15, 2013
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Morgan Stanley, Kresge Foundation, LISC Launch $100 Million Investment Fund
Morgan Stanley, Kresge Foundation, LISC Launch $100 Million Investment Fund
Morgan Stanley, the Kresge Foundation, and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation have announced the launch of a $100 million investment fund designed to expand access to health care and affordable housing for low-income residents.
The Healthy Futures Fund will be seeded with capital sufficient to build five hundred housing units and eight health centers. In addition, the fund will work to foster collaboration among healthcare providers and housing developers serving low-income communities. Morgan Stanley will invest $63 million in equity through federal Low Income Housing and New Markets Tax credits, and, together with Kresge and LISC, will provide another $37 million in loan and grant capital. The projects funded by the initial round of investments are expected to create twenty-two hundred jobs in communities hit hard by the recession.
New Markets Support Company, a LISC affiliate, will manage the fund as part of its
Building Sustainable Communities initiative. The fund expects to expand in the coming months with additional New Markets Tax Credits and lending capital from new partners. Organizations that have agreed to participate include the National Development Council, NCB Capital Impact, Capital Link, the Primary Care Development Corporation, Mercy Loan Fund, and the Opportunity Finance Network.
"We can improve health outcomes for low-income housing residents by improving their access to care," said Kresge Foundation president Rip Rapson. "That's what this fund is designed to do. It demonstrates the kind of leverage and innovation that can be brought to bear against large-scale social needs when the resources of the public, private, and philanthropic sectors are creatively joined."
"This is the painful reality: low-income people generally experience higher levels of sickness and disease and have lower life expectancies," said LISC president Michael Rubinger. "With this fund, we can help move families from deteriorating apartments into quality, affordable homes and provide them with first-rate health care. That can be life-changing."
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