Habitat for Humanity and The Kulshan Community Land Trust broke ground in more ways than one last month when they began Phase 1 of their collaborative effort to bring 54 permanently affordable townhomes to Bellingham.
Telegraph Townhomes marks the launch of the Threshold Fund, an innovative financing tool that reduces the cost of building affordable housing. John Moon and Jeff Fearing, executive directors of Habitat and KulshanCLT had the idea for the fund and worked with the Whatcom Community Foundation to establish what is likely the first revolving fund developed specifically for affordable housing construction.
Called financial recycling, the fund creates a reusable pool of funding so that more permanently affordable homes can be built in the future. Reducing the cost of borrowing will accelerate the number of affordable homes Habitat and KulshanCLT can bring to market—from an annual average of two or three, to more than 50 over a few years.
[Photography: Lorraine Wilde]
