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CDFI says $8 million in colocation seed funding will leverage tenant improvements and create hundreds of child care slots
Summary
The Low Income Investment Fund and partner CDFIs have $8 million available for predevelopment and tenant improvements for colocation projects; LIIF staff said nine projects were selected so far and will leverage additional funding to create roughly 574 spaces, including infant‑toddler slots in child care deserts.
The Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) told the Oregon Early Learning Council that a coordinated CDFI effort has set aside about $8 million to support developer predevelopment and tenant improvements for projects that colocate early care and education with affordable housing.
"It's about $8,000,000 that's actually available," Angie Garland Darling, senior vice president for early care and education at LIIF, said during the March 26 meeting. Garland Darling said applicants typically requested grants up to $850,000 for predevelopment and tenant improvement work and that selected projects will leverage additional public and private funds into tenant improvements.
Garland Darling said the nine projects selected to date will leverage roughly $28 million in tenant improvement funding and other loans, creating an estimated 574 child care spaces across sites targeted as child care deserts, including about 165 infant and toddler slots. She emphasized that most operations will still need subsidy support (Head Start, state or city funds) because child care margins are thin.
Why it matters: The $8 million pool is targeted to reduce an early barrier — tenant improvements and predevelopment costs — that often stall the practical pairing of child care and housing. Council members raised outstanding issues such as prevailing wage triggers and eligibility mismatches between housing income rules and child care subsidy rules.
What’s next: LIIF and partner CDFIs will continue to prioritize projects that demonstrate both need and readiness (operators identified or MOUs in place), and the council asked agencies to share the funded project list and lessons learned to inform future policy and incentives.
