SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL SECTION
WHY WAS THE CRC LAUNCHED ? ( GSEC President and CEO ) Barry Broome and I were having a discussion about what kind of impact we could have in the community ( as a bank ), not just lending , but being impactful and helpful for our community . … Four of us — James Beckwith at Five Star Bank , Steve Fleming at River City Bank and Ciaran McMullan at Suncrest Bank — got together to discuss what we could do to help . There was a lot of stuff going on during COVID that needed addressing . Should we be volunteering more in the community ? Donating more money ? We were already doing that — that ’ s always something we do — but we could step it up . ( We realized that we could have the ) biggest impact on affordable housing . … There ’ s a need for affordable workforce housing in our region to ( attract ) companies we want to come and grow ( here ). The prices to live in Sacramento are very high for multiple reasons , but one is the supply issue — there ’ s not enough supply to meet demand . We came together to figure out how community banks could ( help solve that problem ). Our first initiative as a coalition was to commit $ 100 million for financing and tax credits ( to build ) affordable housing .
JEREMIAH SMITH SENIOR EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER , FIRST NORTHERN BANK CHAIR , CRC COMMITTEE
WHO ’ S INVOLVED IN THE CRC ? Banks are normally fierce competitors , but in this instance , everybody is on the same page . … We ’ ve had multiple meetings with affordable housing builders , including USA Properties ’ ( President and CEO ) Geoff Brown . You want to talk about a good human being but also a really good businessman and someone who builds good product ? That ’ s Geoff . USA has potential projects in our region and an interest in working with us . We ’ ve had meetings with a lot of organizations . … ( Being part of ) GSEC has been a phenomenal experience .
WHAT IS THE TIMELINE FOR FUNDING THESE AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECTS ? The timeline is really open-ended . We ’ ve committed at least $ 100 million — hopefully more — for viable projects and could eat through that rapidly or in 12-18 months . We have to find projects and then be able to get everything going . We ’ re still in initial conversations , but there are a lot of opportunities out there . Each of us ( at the banks ) bring deals to the table , which is a cool thing about pushing regionalism — a rising tide lifts all boats , so when an opportunity is brought to me , I bring it to the committee . Sure , there ’ s a risk because we ’ re competitors , but in the spirit of working together , we want to bring it forward . … We want to make sure anyone who wants to participate can … so we can get affordable workforce housing units developed and people in them and make a difference .
FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE AT THE HELM OF A COMPANY THAT DEVELOPS , BUILDS AND MANAGES MULTIFAMILY COMMUNITIES , WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BIGGEST HOUSING CHALLENGES FACING THE REGION ? I believe the whole affordable housing condition is a more relevant challenge and need than it ’ s ever been in the 30 years we ’ ve been in Sacramento . … The cost has gotten higher to build and because there ’ s pent-up ( housing ) demand ... that has created a housing shortage and affordability gap . … If we had more supply , that would help the crisis . We want young families to want to stay and make a life in California . We don ’ t want to create a situation where you have the very-well-to-do and the not-so-well-to-do — you don ’ t want to drive the middle class out of the state and I worry that ’ s happening . … ( The region ) has a lot of things going for it if we address the ( housing ) problem … ( which is ) why the timing of the CRC is very good .
GEOFF BROWN PRESIDENT AND CEO , USA PROPERTIES FUND
HOW ARE YOU HELPING THE CRC ? My primary goal is to do anything I can do to help them get it off the ground . … There are two ways ( USA ) can help : the macro way , which is explaining how these kinds of deals work , … and the micro , showing them a specific transaction , a case study of a deal and making them understand how that project would work — what the returns would be , how long it would take to build , how long to get investors paid back , etc . ( Some examples include ) … 110 affordable housing units we ’ re breaking ground on in Folsom and an existing project in The Railyards — an 80-20 deal , which is 275 market-rate ( units ) and 69 affordable ( units ). We also have a Rocklin project entitled and we ’ re hoping to get a bond allocation for 288 units of multifamily affordable housing .
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