Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify the role of the Baltimore Community Foundation in the project. A previous version of this article also featured a photo of a different Mayflower Apartments. The article has been updated with an image of the correct property. We regret this error.
Improvements to the Mayflower Apartments in the Pen Lucy neighborhood of East Baltimore will allow the property to offer more units to formerly unhoused people.
The Baltimore Community Foundation (BCF) has committed to invest $1 million in the project from its own holdings. The foundation has partnered with the national nonprofit Community Solutions on the project.
The money from BCF will be used for permanent financing, including to fund remaining improvements as well as to secure the property’s ownership under Community Solutions and their management model for at least the next 10 years.
The loan will provide housing resources to people transitioning from houselessness and those in need of affordable housing, including veterans.
Community Solutions has a “Large Cities Housing Fund,” which is a social-impact private equity fund whose goal is to address the nation’s housing gap. Based in New York City, the nonprofit has partnered with Baltimore; Charlotte, North Carolina; Denver; Jacksonville, Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; and Phoenix via its “Large City Housing Fund,” which just reached $135 million since launching in 2022.
The private-equity business model can bypass the shortfalls associated with construction of new affordable housing that contribute to lack of affordable rental housing in the country. Cities therefore are turning to the model to accelerate their response to houselessness, with Jacksonville boasting nearly the highest housing placement rate in the last four years since partnering with Community Solutions.
“We need fresh ideas for providing and preserving the homes required to make homelessness rare and brief. The Fund demonstrates the role that social impact investors can play as part of an organized housing system aimed at results,” said Rosanne Haggerty, the president and CEO of Community Solutions, in a statement. “These targeted investments are measurably reducing homelessness.”
Furthermore, unlike other housing funds, this model is designed to create permanent housing. “Once investors’ capital is returned, the properties will transition to nonprofit ownership to ensure they continue to serve the mission of addressing homelessness and preserving affordable housing,” reads the press release announcing the Mayflower Apartments investment.
“Kaiser Permanente knows that without a safe, stable place to live, it is nearly impossible to be or stay healthy. We are proud to continue to partner with Community Solutions to help create better health outcomes for more people, including military veterans, by going beyond the limits of traditional health care with programs and practices,” said John Vu, President of Strategy, Community Health at Kaiser Permanente, an investor with Community Solutions. “By bringing together the unique strengths of the health and housing sectors, we can strengthen neighborhoods, improve health and help communities thrive.”
The Mayflower Apartments is a pre-existing apartment complex. The $1 million will help finance the renovations needed to update the property to offer 64 units, half of them designated for formerly unhoused people who are trying to obtain housing using the public voucher system. The other half will be reserved for affordable housing renters.
“Through our 100&Change award, MacArthur chose to support Community Solutions’ Built for Zero strategy because of the high level of innovation and systems-level change their approach brings to the challenge of making homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring,” said Allison Clark, Associate Director of Impact Investments, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. “By dedicating $10 million of their award to the Large Cities Housing Fund, Community Solutions has leveraged more than ten times the initial investment from a variety of impact investors in philanthropy, banking, and health care. Their creative approach to addressing what often is seen as an intractable problem provides hope for individuals and communities across the United States.”
