The Fort Atkinson Community Foundation’s Board of Directors has announced their intention to invest $1 million into Thrive Economic Development's (ThriveED) new Live Local Development Fund (LLDF).
ThriveED is a non-profit, 501(c)3 public-private organization created to promote economic development in Jefferson County. Of late, they have been laser focused on developing solutions to the workforce housing shortage in our county, which has an average rental vacancy rate of less than two percent. Knowing that developers can charge higher rents in the neighboring counties of Dane and Waukesha, ThriveED investigated strategies to attract developers to Jefferson County to help meet our need for 5,000 housing units over the next five years.
This process led to the launch of the Live Local Development Fund which incentivizes developers to build housing in Jefferson County by providing gap financing to get deals across the finish line. Over the next two years, the fund’s initial focus is workforce multi-family housing developments with a planned expansion to include single-family housing development in the next three to five years.
“We are painfully aware of the need for more housing options in our community,” noted FACF Chairman Sally Koehler. “ThriveEd has taken a creative approach to try and find solutions to the housing shortage and we are eager to join Fort HealthCare and other community-minded organizations to pitch in and help.”
Describing the decision as a great opportunity to make an “impact investment,” FACF Executive Director Sue Hartwick explained, “unlike a grant, impact investing generates both a financial return and a measurable social return, allowing us to deploy a greater portion of our resources in support of our mission to improve the quality of life in our community. To put it more colloquially,” she smiled, “it's a bit like putting your money where your mouth is. And we look forward to putting the money to work on behalf of our community.”
The Foundation has stipulated that their $1 million investment be used only for housing projects that fall within the geographic boundaries of the School District of Fort Atkinson and they will be negotiating the interest rate they expect to earn from the investment.
More information about the Fort Atkinson Community Foundation is available at www.fortfoundation.org or by contacting Hartwick at (920) 563-3210 or via email at facf@fortfoundation.org.
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