New York, NY – The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust [HIT] is closing in on its $2 billion multiyear investment goal in the Midwest with three major construction projects the organization hopes will spur economic development and create good union jobs across the region.
“After weathering COVID, the manufacturing and construction sectors are now contending with rising costs and the highest rate of inflation since 1981. This is especially true in the Midwest where inflation is higher than the nation as a whole,” HIT Regional Marketing Director Paul Sommers said in a statement this week.
Through impact investing, the 35-year-old HIT seeks to not only create good union jobs, but also build and preserve rental housing, particularly affordable and workforce housing.
“The shortage of affordable housing throughout the Midwest and the negative impact of the pandemic made it even more important to increase affordable housing production in these communities” Chang Suh, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of AFL-CIO HIT, said in a statement.
The three building projects include the adaptive reuse of a historic Toledo, Ohio, civic structure into an innovation center; the renovation of two affordable housing projects in the Decatur, Illinois, area; and the conversion of a landmarked Duluth, Minnesota, high school into apartments.
According to the organization, HIT’s investment in its Midwest@Work initiative is now $1.6 billion.
When HIT first announced the Midwest@Work initiative in 2016, its goal was to invest $1 billion in the region by 2023. After exceeding that goal ahead of schedule, the HIT doubled its target to $2 billion by 2025.
