Community Investment Corporation

About Community Investment Corporation

CIC is a nonprofit corporation with a mission to be a leading force in affordable housing and neighborhood revitalization through innovative financing, programs, and policy leadership. CIC is the leading lender for the acquisition, rehabilitation, and preservation of affordable rental housing in the Chicago metropolitan area. Since 1974, we have provided $1.6 billion for 2,600 loans to rehab and preserve 66,200 units of affordable rental housing for 166,000 people. We lend to small business people who own and operate rental housing.Over half of CIC borrowers are minority or women-owned businesses. CIC employs 45 full-time staff.
In addition to lending, CIC offers complementary products and services. CIC offers Property Management Training, which provides owners and managers with the information and skills they need to successfully operate multifamily housing. Through its affiliate, Community Initiatives Inc. (CII), CIC undertakes activities to directly preserve affordable rental housing, including acquisition of distressed properties and targeted code enforcement. CIC convenes The Preservation Compact, a policy collaborative originally convened by the MacArthur Foundation, to preserve affordable rental housing in Cook County.
CIC is certified by the U.S. Treasury Department as a Community Development Financial Institution, is an approved FHA Multifamily Lender, and is a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago. CIC is a pooled risk lender. At the core of CIC’s operations, structure, and sustained success over the past 35 years is a unique concept – the Note Purchase Agreement (NPA). Originally created in 1984, and amended many times over the years to adapt to changing conditions, the NPA is a proven, effective, and efficient vehicle for investors to participate in CIC loan programs. It allows banks to jointly participate in loans and community development activities that they would not otherwise undertake on their own. CIC’s current NPA, renewed in 20