The South L.A.-based SoLa Impact, a family of real estate funds focused on housing development in lower-income communities, has received a $7.5 million investment from Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank.
The funding is for SoLa Fund IV, the group’s Black Impact Fund, which the company says is part of an overall initiative that would invest over $1 billion in affordable and workforce housing and related social impact strategies across urban cities in California.
According to the announcement co-signed by PNC and SoLa Impact, the area’s leading Black-led housing developer will put the $7.5 million equity investment to use on new housing units for residents earning well below median income throughout Los Angeles and greater Southern California.
Since its January 2021 founding, Sola Fund IV has raised $300 million from leading institutional investors and community-focused banks, high net-worth individuals, and family offices. Other investors include the California State Teacher Retirement System, the world’s largest educator-only pension fund, which pledged $50 million to the Black Impact Fund in March 2022. San Jose-based PayPal Inc. has invested $25 million, and West Los Angeles-based Riot Games Inc. contributed $2 million.
Through the fund, company founder and Chief Executive Martin Muoto says the company expects to add more than 3,000 workforce and affordable housing units in Black and brown communities throughout Southern California.
“We are excited to partner with PNC Bank to address the crisis of housing affordability in California. Investments like these enable us to build more units to serve more residents of communities that are burdened by high costs of living,” Muoto said in a statement. “Ultimately, the goal is to deliver superior returns not only to our investors, but also to our community.
