Tarrytown's Leviticus Fund observes 40th anniversary of lending

first certified CDFIs in 1994.

Executive Director Greg Maher explained that Leviticus Fund is a lender that serves nonprofit developers in the TriState Area. He stressed that the fund does not operate as a charity, nor is it focused on giving grants that are not expected to be repaid.

“Loan funds are nonprofit corporations, so we are not at a bank-founded depository institution,” explained Executive Director Greg Maher. “We are part of the community development finance movement – we provide financing and technical assistance to developers that are doing work in high-poverty neighborhoods, and we provide them with a range of very flexible loan products to get their projects up off the ground during pre-construction. We also provide construction and rehab financing, and also during the operating phase of the project.”

Maher stated that the Leviticus Fund focuses on nonprofit developers rather than their for-profit counterparts because “we feel that’s the best strategy if you’re talking about housing that’s affordable to lower income families – not only building the housing, because they do it well, but also holding on to it over the long term. Because if you have a for-profit that owns it, once it becomes deregulated and if it’s in a neighborhood that’s gentrified or where values have risen, they’re much more likely to sell it, evict the tenants and go to market on it.”

Today, roughly three-quarters of

Leviticus Fund’s lending is focused on affordable housing developments. Maher also noted that despite the stereotype of high risks in this sector of lending, the fund’s history has been mostly free of delinquent borrowers.

“Over the last five years, we’ve had very low default rate of less than 1%,” he said. “And our write-off rate has been zero – we have no write-offs at all. The real risks are there, certainly, but we usually try to address that in a very careful way with our underwriting and our due diligence.”

Maher further explained that Leviticus Fund makes a serious effort to establish relationships with potential borrowers, pointing out that “the nonprofits we lend to we know really well – we get to know them, we meet with them. It’s kind of like the old-fashioned lending based on close relationships and really knowing who you’re working with. And that’s helped in terms of the lower default rates.”

Maher noted the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program as being crucial in affordable housing development, though he also acknowledged that developments are often stymied by multiple obstacles in many localities.

“Zoning is the major impediment in Westchester and Fairfield County to more affordable rental housing,” he said. “On the for-sale side of homeownership, it’s even more challenging. Not only is zoning a problem, because you have restrictive zoning in certain places – especially in wealthier communities – but the cost of land is so significant because there are relatively few parcels left that can be developed into for-sale housing that’s affordable.”

Looking ahead, Maher said the Leviticus Fund will be planning a major celebration in Manhattan on Oct. 12 to mark the organization’s 40th anniversary by highlighting its achievements and calling attention to its newest projects.

“The theme for that 40th anniversary is ‘seed to the sower,’” he said. “The sowers would be the nonprofits that do the work in communities, and Leviticus is the one that provides them seed, which are financial resources to do their work. And I think we’ll be looking forward to the next 40 years, and I think we have a lot of momentum. The grant we received from the CDFI Fund is a real vote of confidence from the CDFI Fund.”

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