By David G. Barry
Trinity Church Wall Street is seeding a fund focused
on helping to bring affordable and mixed-income housing to New York City – an
effort that Chief Investment Officer Meredith Jenkins tells Markets
Group marks a “first” for the New York Episcopal parish.
Trinity is committing $20 million to MSquared to launch the MSquared
Affordable NYC Fund. New York-based MSquared was founded and is led by Alicia
Glen, the former New York City deputy mayor for housing and economic
development.
MSquared will use the fund to provide capital targeted to nonprofit and
mission-driven developers to catalyze affordable and mixed-income development
across the five boroughs. The hope is that by providing flexible,
cost-effective capital the fund will enable more projects to advance. The
MSquared Affordable NYC Fund also will look to target its capital to women- and
minority-led enterprises.
“We have historically and continue
to be willing to invest with managers early in their lives, including at Day 1,”
said Jenkins. “But this is the first time that we have worked closely with a
manager to put together a fund that will focus on opportunities that are very
closely aligned with one of our strategic mission areas – in this case
addressing affordable housing and homelessness in NYC.”
As of December 31, 2021, Trinity’s endowment was valued at approximately
$7.2 billion. In existence for more than three centuries, Trinity has more than
1,200 members.
Jenkins added in a
statement that “we believe in the MSquared mission, and we believe that
MSquared has the expertise and experience to make New York City, and many other
cities, more affordable. We hope this fund will encourage more investment in
affordable housing in New York and beyond.”
Trinity is backing
MSquared out of its mission investment program, Jenkins said. Established
earlier this year with an initial commitment of up to $100 million over five
years, the program is focused on investments made by foundations and
mission-based organizations’ endowments that align with Trinity’s strategic
pillars of racial justice, housing and homelessness and mission real estate in
development in New York City.
The church is also investing an
undisclosed amount in MSquared’s Impact Partners Fund I, she said.
The Impact Partners Fund is one of two that MSquared manages. The other is the
Equitable Housing Solutions Fund. Investors in the funds include Citibank,
Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Capricorn Investment Group.
In a statement, Glen said that “New York City desperately needs more affordable
housing.”