In October 2020, JPMorgan Chase announced a $30 billion Racial Equity Commitmentto help close the racial wealth gap among Black, Hispanic, and Latino communities. The firm is bringing together its business, philanthropy, policy, and data expertise to advance racial equity and drive inclusive growth.
In the last year, JPMorgan Chase has deployed or committed more than $13 billion of its $30 billion goal to help close the racial wealth gap. This is largely driven by affordable rental housing preservation and homeownership refinance, which were existing products and processes where the firm took prompt action to do more.
“With dedicated teams already in place, we were able to move quickly and do more to expand affordable rental housing and support for vital community institutions,” says Alice Carr, JPMorgan Chase’s head of community development banking. “Access to affordable housing is a pervasive problem in the country and we’re going to continue driving toward our commitment to finance the creation and preservation of 100,000 affordable rental units in underserved areas while also investing in the institutions that contribute to thriving communities.”
The five-year commitment includes lending, equity and direct funding to help increase sustainable homeownership, expand affordable housing, grow small businesses, support diverse suppliers, improve financial health and access to banking and build a more diverse and inclusive workforce.
Some of the other actions taken as part of the commitment:
- Created the Affordable Housing Preservation Program, which incentivizes landlords to keep rental units in their buildings at an affordable level. To date, the firm has funded more than $6 billion in loans to help preserve more than 60,000 affordable housing and rental housing units across the U.S.
- Approved lending of $1 billion for the new construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households.
- Increased Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) investments by $400 million.
- Closed on $46 million of its $500 million commitment to affordable housing preservation funds.
- Provide more than $300 million in additional financing to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) to support communities that lack access to traditional financing.
- Target an additional $100 million in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) investments with a focus on Black-owned or -led projects primarily serving Black populations.
- Provided $164 million in additional financing to CDFIs to support community development projects such as affordable housing, grocery stores, daycares, health care facilities and other community service operations.
- Established a new Racial Equity Initiative, which uses NMTC investments to spur growth and inclusion. Since inception, the firm has funded $116 million in new projects related to the effort.
