A new initiative, the New York City Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) Guaranty Facility, will provide up to $50 million to help MBE developers overcome historical financial barriers and fully participate in the development of critically needed affordable housing for New Yorkers. This new investment is expected to enable as much as $500 million in private construction lending to MBEs. The initiative was announced this month in partnership with Goldman Sachs, Community Preservation Corporation (CPC), New York City Mayor Eric Adams, New York City Housing Preservation Development (HPD), and New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC).  

In December 2023, CAMBA Housing Ventures, a New York City-based affordable and supportive housing developer, broke ground on a 328-unit affordable housing development in Prospect Lefferts Gardens in Brooklyn. In early 2023, UIG within Goldman Sachs Asset Management committed $219.5 million as part of Goldman Sachs’ One Million Black Women (OMBW) initiative to finance the project, which will set aside half of its units to house formerly homeless populations. The project is also part of New York State’s Vital Brooklyn Initiative.

In October 2023, Goldman Sachs announced a $20 million lending commitment to Hope Enterprise Corporation, a community development financial institution (CDFI) based in Jackson, Mississippi. These funds will support a broader group of smaller CDFIs making small business loans in rural communities across the South. This investment will reach small businesses that have been challenged accessing capital from traditional financial institutions and will foster job creation and catalyze economic growth across the region. 

In June 2023, UIG invested $11.4 million to finance the ground-up development of 15 units of affordable residential housing in Southeast Washington D.C. The project will be developed by Northern Real Estate Urban Ventures, a Washington D.C.-based, MWBE firm with a focus on real estate development in low-income communities. The Mary’s House project will be developed in partnership with Mary’s House for Older Adults, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit with a mission to create affordable, independent communal housing for older adults, particularly LGBTQ+SGL (same-gender loving) adults.