MISSION
Mission is central to Affirmative's corporate make-up. We believe in a triple bottom line approach - people, planet and profit - to building community resources, opportunities and resilience. We partner with mission-driven organizations, contributing our real estate finance and development expertise, in order to expand housing opportunities, and deliver critical services in low-income communities.
HISTORY
Affirmative Investments was founded in 1983 with foundation support and a vision to use investment vehicles to build the capacity and scale social impact work. From its founding Affirmative was ahead of its time by focusing on the social impact of financial investments long before "impact investing" was born. In its early years, Affirmative focused on helping organizations expand affordable housing opportunities across the United States. Since that time, we have facilitated the financing and development of nearly $850 million of affordable housing, representing over 6,000 units.
In 2004 Affirmative expanded into the newly formed New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) program. Through NMTCs we have utilized creative financial structuring that aligns with the priorities of multiple parties including service providers, Community Development Entities (CDEs), investors, and lenders. Affirmative has closed 90 NMTC deals totaling $2.1 billion in development costs, over $1 billion in Qualified Equity Investments, and over 4.7 billion square feet of NMTC-funded commercial space. Affirmative does work across the country and has completed projects in 12 states ranging from Rhode Island to California.
APPROACH
At Affirmative, we are dedicated to a team approach to the development process. Our projects become critical community hubs and homes, so we are dedicated to building high quality teams to ensure project success. Active collaboration brings out the skills of each team member and builds capacity within client organizations.
Our relationships with key industry players give our clients access to essential information. The ability to read political context, economic climate, and the technical aspects of each deal is central to helping our clients make quality decisions and realize their objectives.