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Impact investing
Affordable housing
Amount invested: $351.3 Million
SDG alignment
| IMPACT METRIC1 | IMPACT FOR 2019 | EQUIVALENT TO |
|---|---|---|
| Number of affordable mortgages guaranteed or provided | 1.8 million | |
| Housing built or supported, including units designated for low- to moderate- income residents | 339,388 | More housing units than the Boston metro area2 |
Century Housing Corporation (Century)
Alignment with SDGs:
Sector: Investment grade taxable municipal
Century Housing Corporation (Century) is one of more than 1,100 mission-driven financial providers nationwide that operate as certified Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). Established by Congress in 1994, the CDFI Fund serves these institutions with resources and programs that invest federal dollars alongside private-sector capital to support economically disadvantaged communities.3
| Century’s mission and intended outcomes | Measurable impact |
|---|---|
| Finance, build, and operate exceptional affordable housing so that the people we serve may have a dignified home, a healthy and hopeful future, and attain economic independence.”4 | In the past few years, Century has diversified its sources of capital by issuing public debt. The proceeds of the bonds in which Nuveen invested were used to refinance loans for multifamily affordable housing development, including: |
| Offer innovative financing programs in California, partnering with state and local agencies, municipalities and other CDFIs. | 1,952 affordable housing units |
| 843 supportive housing units (combining affordability with access to coordinated physical and mental health services) | |
| 1,515 senior housing units | |
| 381 workforce housing units (allowing moderate-income workers who would otherwise be priced out of local housing markets to live closer to their jobs). |
"We’ve found that engagement with issuers early in the process is crucial to help them develop meaningful impact metrics,” says Adam Guerino, a portfolio manager on Nuveen’s Global Fixed Income – ESG/Impact team. “It’s been rewarding to see Century become more accountable and deliberate in reporting as they increase their participation in the public markets.”
“The public fixed income markets give issuers a practical tool for refinancing, which lowers their cost of capital,” adds Stephen M. Liberatore, head of ESG/Impact – Nuveen Global Fixed Income. “Helping issuers achieve scale, improve borrowing costs and ultimately provide greater benefits to the community are all part of a capital market solution to myriad social and environmental problems."
Examples
Enterprise Community Loan Fund (ECLF)
- Sector
Investment grade corporate bond - Mission
To deliver innovative financial products and technical assistance to mission-aligned organizations to acquire, develop and preserve quality affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families, and to revitalize their communities by providing access to good jobs, quality affordable housing, schools, transportation and healthy living environments. - Use of proceeds
The proceeds of the bonds are being used to refinance certain existing debt obligations of ECLF, reducing the cost of borrowing. These obligations were issued to finance community development loans serving the needs of various populations. - Measurable impact
- 861 affordable housing units (49 will earn LEED for Homes3 certification)
- 137 senior affordable housing units
- 500 homes built to LEED Platinum standard
City and county of San Francisco, California
- Sector
Investment grade, tax-exempt municipal bond - Mission/projects
Hope San Francisco (HOPE SF) is the nation’s first large-scale public housing revitalization project to prioritize current residents while also investing in high-quality, sustainable housing and broad community development. HOPE SF creates thriving, mixed-income communities that provide green buildings, better schools, new local businesses and onsite resident services. - Use of proceeds
Proceeds will reimburse the city for funds used to finance a portion of the Hunters View housing development project in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood — part of HOPE SF’s larger initiative to replace four publicly owned housing developments. - Measurable impact
The overall Hunters View project consists of three phases with an estimated total cost of $450 million. All phases will ultimately include not only new housing, but also new streets, pedestrian walkways, open space, sewers, lighting and other necessary infrastructure.
Specific outcomes include:- Demolition and replacement of severely deteriorated public housing sites
- 426 new housing units (267 public housing units replaced on a one-for-one basis)
- Addition of market-rate and affordable rental and ownership housing
- Phase I completed in 2013
- Phase II (construction of infrastructure and multifamily rental buildings) completed in 2017
- Phase III began in 2018 with expected completion in 2020
Impact Objectives
• Increase availability of affordable housing globally
• Reduce rent burden to increase financial resources available after housing payments
• Increase access to home ownership for low- and moderate-income populations
• Increase availability of housing near transit options
• Reduce rent burden to increase financial resources available after housing payments
• Increase access to home ownership for low- and moderate-income populations
• Increase availability of housing near transit options
Project Type
• Low- and moderate-income housing loans
• Transit-oriented development
• Walkable communities
• Mixed-use development projects
• Transit-oriented development
• Walkable communities
• Mixed-use development projects
Our offices
1 Reporting methodology The Nuveen Responsible Investing team developed this report to provide an indication of the aggregate social and environmental impact created by the projects and organizations financed in part by the Strategy. Given the difficulty of attributing impact in proportion to the size of the Strategy’s share of each bond issuance (which ranges from 0.015% to 100%), the data reflect total impact generated by the project, program, or issuer rather than the Strategy’s share alone. The report represents bonds that are classified under the Strategy’s proprietary impact framework and for which relevant data are available. All impact data are sourced from publicly available issuer disclosures at the bond or project level when possible, or the program or issuer level if not. Metrics selected for each impact theme reflect the information most commonly reported by issuers, and each metric includes data from between 2 and 46 bonds. In cases where the Strategy has a large position in a certain issuer, we prioritize selecting metrics reported by that issuer.
2 U.S. census data.
3 Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, https://www.cdfifund.gov
4 Century Housing Corporation, https://century.org
5 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), administered by the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council, is the world’s largest green building certification program, providing benchmark criteria for efficiency, cost savings and environmental sustainability.
A word on risk
Because ESG criteria exclude some securities, investments in ESG-focused products may not be able to take advantage of the same opportunities or market trends as products that do not use such criteria. Investment products in general may be subject to market and other risk factors.
The investment advisory services, strategies and expertise of TIAA Investments, a division of Nuveen, are provided by Teachers Advisors, LLC and TIAA-CREF Investment Management, LLC. Securities offered through Nuveen Securities, LLC.
2 U.S. census data.
3 Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, https://www.cdfifund.gov
4 Century Housing Corporation, https://century.org
5 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), administered by the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council, is the world’s largest green building certification program, providing benchmark criteria for efficiency, cost savings and environmental sustainability.
A word on risk
Because ESG criteria exclude some securities, investments in ESG-focused products may not be able to take advantage of the same opportunities or market trends as products that do not use such criteria. Investment products in general may be subject to market and other risk factors.
The investment advisory services, strategies and expertise of TIAA Investments, a division of Nuveen, are provided by Teachers Advisors, LLC and TIAA-CREF Investment Management, LLC. Securities offered through Nuveen Securities, LLC.
