The impact of COVID-19  is severe, especially for low-income group residents. The mission-driven groups that develop and operate the housing for this population and it will get worse. The tenants face job and income loss that will prevent them from paying rent, buying food, and health care. The needs of families, seniors with acute health issues, people with disabilities and needs significant services during this challenging or worst time. The majority of tenants in LIHTC financed developments and in naturally occurring affordable housing are unassisted and bear the full share of rental payments. The affordable housing owners are working to address the health and safety needs of their residents while also managing the increased costs associated with COVID-19 response and its direct impacts on the production of affordable housing units and construction delays due to this reason the supply chain is interrupted.

The Capital Magnet Fund (CMF) is a public-private partnership that uses flexible federal funds to attract private investment into communities for affordable housing and economic development. CMF provides funding that nonprofit developers and lenders cannot find elsewhere—funding to do pre-development work, create revolving loan funds, establish loan loss reserves, and provide loan guarantees—all critical pieces of affordable housing and community development. CMF recipients use these funds as pre-development capital, gap funds and enhancements to help them create affordable homes and invest in communities. While CMF is typically funded by a small annual assessment on new business purchases by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a one-time appropriation would give mission-driven developers and lenders, including state housing finance agencies, flexible funding to help them respond to a rapidly changing economic environment to ensure that affordable homes are preserved and produced and that vital investments in communities continue.