About CPC

By The Numbers

1974

Established

$15B

Invested

230k

Units Financed

Yolanda Barham stands in front of her home, a co-op building that CPC helped preserve, renovate, and stabilize after systemic fraud put the affordable property in financial distress, through no fault of its residents.

Our Mission

CPC believes housing is central to transforming underserved neighborhoods into thriving and vibrant communities. CPC is a nonprofit affordable housing and community revitalization finance company providing flexible capital solutions, fresh thinking and a collaborative approach to the complex issues facing communities.

Our Approach

As a nonprofit multifamily lender and investor, we measure our success through our ability to make an impact on our three core objectives.

Our Story

CPC was founded in 1974 as a direct response to the chronic issues of property abandonment and blight facing New York City and its multifamily housing stock. These were the “bad old days” – when the New York Daily News, in response to President Ford’s refusal to bail the City out of its crippling fiscal crisis, ran its iconic headline in 1975, “Ford to City: Drop Dead.” Each year, between 20,000 and 30,000 rental units were being lost to abandonment, fire, or demolition, and communities were suffering.

We started by focusing a small amount of pooled capital on a few neighborhoods – namely Crown Heights in Brooklyn and Washington Heights in Manhattan. These targeted loans helped improve building quality and people’s living conditions, and helped prevent the blight in surrounding neighborhoods from destabilizing them.

In the 1990s we built on our successes and lessons learned, taking our unique expertise and business model into every region across the State of New York – working with municipalities and local stakeholders to help solve their most pressing housing and community revitalization needs.

Following the Great Recession (circa 2008-2010), we refocused on our mission and set out to diversify our product offerings to better serve our partners and to expand the reach of our impact. This included the creation an agency mortgage lending subsidiary, the growth of our industry-leading sustainability platform, and the launch of initiatives to empower black and brown developers and to bring diversity and equity to the real estate industry.

Today, CPC has a national footprint and is the largest Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) in the nation solely focused on investing in multifamily housing. It is our culture of trust and respect, and our dedication to advancing the vision of our partners that allows us grow and succeed together.

Revitalization.

Making History

Since our founding in 1974, CPC has been blazing trails, building unique partnerships, and bringing our mission and impact to communities in need. Check out a few highlights that have defined our history.

1974

CPC Founded

CPC opens its first office in New York City to help improve building quality and prevent the blight and abandonment gripping communities across the city.

1974

The First Loan

CPC commits $635,000 for the rehab of an 87-unit building in Washington Heights, Manhattan; followed quickly by a series of small loans for properties in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

1980s

Public Pension Funds

CPC secures loan purchase commitments from the NYC Police Pension Fund and NYC Employees’ Retirement Systems; the first time any public pension fund in the country invested in upgrading housing.

1989

CPC Grows

CPC opens an office in the Hudson Valley, and will continue to expand throughout the 1990s with offices across New York State.

1992

State Partnerships

The NYS Common Retirement Fund establishes loan purchase agreement with CPC. State of New York Mortgage Agency agrees to insure all program loans.

1998

Parkchester, Bronx

CPC and partners purchase ownership share of Parkchester in the Bronx and being plans to rehab its 12,200 units and 525,000 sqft of commercial space. It had fallen into extreme disrepair under previous
ownership.

2005

$250 Million Rehab

The partnership completes a massive rehab at Parkchester, which at the time was the largest multifamily rehab project in the country. Parkchester remains a naturally affordable community.

2012

Hurricane Sandy

New York City selects CPC to administer $45 million in funding through the Build it Back program, to rebuild and restore properties damaged during Hurricane Sandy.

2019

CPC Mortgage Company

CPC launches its Agency mortgage lending subsidiary; the nation’s only nonprofit-owned mortgage lender with national multifamily licenses for Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and HUD/FHA products.

2020

COVID-19 Relief

During the COVID-19 pandemic, New York State selects CPC to administer financial relief funds and technical assistance to small building owners.

2022

$1 Billion Dollars

CPC deploys over $1 billion to support affordable and workforce housing projects during a record-breaking 2022 fiscal year, financing 144 projects totaling 9,638 units across 18 states.

FY 23 Annual Report: Mission in Focus

Fiscal Year 2023 was a testament to the strength of CPC’s mission and our ability to make a positive social impact through our lending and investing and our community engagement work. Propelled by a strong foundation, committed team, and meaningful partnerships, CPC seized new opportunities, executed on challenging transactions, and found new ways to lead with our values in the face of the industry’s economic headwinds.

View Report