Builders of Hope CDC announces $5M Investment from Benchmark Bank for affordable housing.
The investment in the form of a guidance line of credit will spur grow in BOHCDC's affordable housing production throughout Dallas County and decrease build time by 2-3 months.
Benchmark Bank's General Counsel John Jackson and Builders of Hope CDC's President/CEO James Armstrong, speaking at BOHCDC's groundbreaking for 20 new single-family affordable homes for low to moderate income families in West Dallas.
Builders of Hope Community Development Corporation (BOHCDC) is excited to announce a $5 million investment and partnership with Benchmark Bank that will result in more affordable homes available for families that need it most. The investment, in the form of a guidance line of credit, will be used for land acquisition, pre-development and vertical construction cost as BOHCDC expands it's geographical service area throughout Dallas County. The flexibility of the credit facility is exactly what affordable housing developers need to spur production, says James Armstrong III who has led BOHCDC into exponential growth over the past five years.
"Until now, every home that Builders of Hope CDC built was financed individually. That means if we wanted to build 10 homes we would have 10 separate loan requests, with 10 separate approvals, and 10 separate closings with the fees that come along with it. It was an inefficient way of getting units on the ground and a significant barrier to increasing capacity to build more" says Armstrong III. The way in which the production of single family affordable housing was financed created barriers for local non-profit builders like BOHCDC. Traditionally, acquisition and pre-development cost were paid from already stretched general operating funds which limited the type of projects builders could participate in and the quantity of homes that could be build.
The announcement serves as another example of how BOHCDC utilizes its private-not for profit- public partnership model to fuel its mission of transforming Dallas through building thriving neighborhood and quality affordable homes. From various banks that fund both housing production and community development policy and programming, to local foundations that utilize PRI's (program related investments that act as a low interest loan), and local and county municipalities that bring large subsidies to the table the BOHCDC model for community development is a testament to the fact that everyone has a part to play in closing the gap and meeting the demand for safe quality affordable housing in Dallas.
For Benchmark Bank, it's a matter of increasing access to homeownership in areas of the city that have traditionally been underinvested and underserved. According to the Dallas Housing Policy that was released spring of 2023, there is a growing disparity of homeownership rates in census tract that are "majority people of color." Though homeownership continues to be a reliable vehicle to establish wealth, systemic barriers to home and property ownership have significantly impeded generational wealth accumulation in historically disadvantage communities.
"Every person in Dallas, indeed every person in America, deserves the opportunity to participate in the primary wealth building mechanism available to the vast majority of Americans. By helping to grow the affordable housing stock in the Dallas area, we are improving the health and wellbeing of the communities we invest in as well as the City and County at large" said John Jackson with Benchmark Bank. Historically, Benchmark Bank has invested over $7 million throughout its relationship with BOH, which has resulted in 47 affordable homes being build in West and South Dallas and $2.8 million in wealth created for first time homeowners.
The significant investment is projected to generate over $7.5M in wealth for families over the next 5 years and increase BOHCDC's annual housing production count by 10-15 homes.