PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. has renewed an agreement with Citizen Action and the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey that will bring nearly $1 billion in housing investment to the state’s low-income communities over the next three years.
By 2013 PNC will have invested almost $2 billion in support of various innovative programs that include below market-rate mortgages, grants for closing costs, grants and loans for residents with disabilities and lending options for emerging businesses and residential real estate.
Executives said they see these types of proactive agreements as “the best way to kickstart” the local economy.
Over the next three years, the plan calls for $66 million in below-market-rate affordable mortgages along with a closing cost assistance grant of $1,000 apiece. In addition, PNC pledges $211 million in discounted rate, home equity and home improvement loans.
The collaborative effort also includes a $3 million fund that will allow non-profit developers to acquire, renovate, construct and resell affordable homes.
Another $15 million is earmarked for financing of residential and commercial projects that are expected to revitalize distressed neighborhoods, along with $15 million in financing for the development of community facilities that service lower income residents.
The agreement expands goals originally established in 2007 keeping the focus on mortgages, consumer and small business loans, multi-family housing and community development loans.
PNC said it plans to allocate another $1.5 million in financial support for the New Jersey Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Credit program, which brings together private and government funding to support community-based organizations up to a total of $20 million by 2013.
