Community Development Banking
Providing solutions to finance affordable housing and impact projects in the communities Fifth Third serves.
Tackling the Housing Crisis
Fifth Third is at the forefront of tackling the housing crisis in the United States, including being asked to provide expertise and guidance as the only private sector co-chair of the U.S. Housing Crisis Task Force. This work is led by the Community Development Banking Group, which provides flexible, innovative solutions to finance the development of affordable housing and impact projects in the communities served by Fifth Third. It also supports the work of organizations providing services to low- and moderate-income people.
This work creates healthy, sustainable communities through affordable housing, essential services and economic opportunity for underserved communities through our place-based economic development model throughout the Fifth Third footprint. In 2024, an affiliate of the Fifth Third Community Development Company received a $50 million allocation of New Market Tax Credits from the U.S. Treasury to impact our place-based work.
2024 Highlights
$673M+
3,684 units
Investments
Fifth Third specializes in financing affordable housing developments that have received reservations of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, or LIHTCs. The Fifth Third Community Development Company (CDC) also invests in federal, state and historic tax credits, new markets tax credits and equity equivalent investments. Projects include affordable housing, small business spaces or commercial projects. They often provide access to essential services for residents, including financial education, social programming and recreational greenspaces.
Fifth Third invested $8.9 million in equity and financed $12 million in debt in support of the first phase of a five-phase effort called Elizabeth Street Apartments in downtown Durham, North Carolina. The rendering of Elizabeth Street Apartments on this page is courtesy of developer Laurel Street Residential.
The project will ultimately preserve and develop 2,400 mixed-income units of housing to serve residents at various levels of area median income (AMI). The apartment complexes will offer bedroom sizes ranging from studios to threebedrooms. The first phase will develop 72 units of housing, 18 of which will serve renters at 30% AMI. The remaining units will rent at 60% or 80% AMI.
The project will provide high quality affordable housing for families in a desirable location that is rapidly becoming out of reach for many low- and moderate-income households. The developer is Laurel Street Residential, a women-owned and minority developer in partnership with the Durham Housing Authority.
Lending
Fifth Third participates in LIHTC construction and/or bond financing, 15-year permanent financing, equity bridge financing, new market tax credit leverage lending, and syndicator bridge financing. All of these solutions share a common goal to help boost affordable housing in the markets served by Fifth Third Bank.
Fifth Third made a $15 million LIHTC construction loan for Thrive Englewood, a mixed-use and mixed-income 62-unit housing development in the Chicago neighborhood of Englewood in 2023. Fifty-two of the 62 units will be for tenants with incomes at 50-60% AMI. The project also includes 2,400 square feet of commercial space.
For more information or questions, please connect with your local Community Impact Manager.