Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, OPIC and USAID Supporting Low-Income Families in Haiti

Housing finance project will help promote home ownership and repairs following 2010 earthquake

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, together with the Overseas Private Investment Corp. (OPIC) and the U.S. Agency for International Development are supporting an inter-agency project that will make available affordable home mortgages as well as repair loans for low-income Haitians and small businesses affected by the 2010 earthquake. More than 4,000 Haitians stand to benefit.

“This project will make it possible for more Haitians to borrow the money they need to purchase or repair their homes and as a result, significantly improve their quality of life. It marks a key step towards achieving long-term, sustainable economic recovery in Haiti.”

The project marshals $17 million in loans from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government’s development finance institution, a $6 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and $3 million from the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, which launched the facility. Development Innovations Group (DIG), a U.S.-based housing finance and urban development firm, will manage the project.

The facility will help address a critical need for mortgage financing in Haiti, where more than 360,000 people continue to live in tents and other temporary housing following the earthquake. OPIC’s financing will create three new loan products targeting low-income borrowers: housing microfinance loans that start at $1,000; micro-mortgages that start at $5,000; and loans for the construction and repair of businesses that start at $3,000. They will be available through local Haitian finance organizations, including banks and microfinance institutions.

OPIC Executive Vice President Mimi Alemayehou said, “Housing is the most basic unit of physical and financial infrastructure in any country – and is therefore critical to Haiti’s recovery. The fact that we can join with sister agency USAID and dedicated partners such as the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund and DIG to provide ordinary Haitians greater access to housing finance speaks to our mutual commitment to support Haiti’s economic growth.”

DIG President and CEO Franck Daphnis said, “This project will make it possible for more Haitians to borrow the money they need to purchase or repair their homes and as a result, significantly improve their quality of life. It marks a key step towards achieving long-term, sustainable economic recovery in Haiti.”

Clinton Bush Haiti Fund CEO Gary Edson said, “More accessible financing gives Haiti’s working poor the opportunity to own their own home and, in doing so, their own future. These borrowers are also bolstering the construction sector, hiring building teams and multiplying the positive impact the project has on Haiti’s economy.”

OPIC is the U.S. Government’s development finance institution. It mobilizes private capital to help solve critical development challenges and in doing so, advances U.S. foreign policy. Because OPIC works with the U.S. private sector, it helps U.S. businesses gain footholds in emerging markets catalyzing revenues, jobs and growth opportunities both at home and abroad. OPIC achieves its mission by providing investors with financing, guarantees, political risk insurance, and support for private equity investment funds.

Established as an agency of the U.S. Government in 1971, OPIC operates on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to American taxpayers. OPIC services are available for new and expanding business enterprises in more than 150 countries worldwide. To date, OPIC has supported more than $200 billion of investment in over 4,000 projects, generated an estimated $75 billion in U.S. exports and supported more than 276,000 American jobs.

About the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund

The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded after Haiti’s January 12, 2010 earthquake, when President Barack Obama asked former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to lead a major fundraising effort to assist the Haitian people to “build back better.” The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund initially responded to the catastrophe with millions in humanitarian relief. By the time the Fund began independent operations in May 2010, it transitioned to primarily serving its longer-term mission of sustainable reconstruction efforts designed to promote job growth and economic opportunity, and enabling Haiti to chart its own successful future. To learn more visit www.ClintonBushHaitiFund.org.

About Development Innovations Group

Development Innovations Group (DIG) is a private, international firm committed to fostering innovative solutions in the fields of financial services for the poor; urban, water, and infrastructure services; as well as fund management. DIG has worked in 40 countries, including in post-disaster and post-conflict settings, striving to catalyze home-grown solutions to universal development challenges.