January 20, 2022
SoLa Impact’s Black Impact Fund Receives $25 Million Investment from PayPal to Address Racial Equity Through Affordable Housing
SoLa Impact, a leading minority-led housing developer, today announced a $25 million investment from PayPal for its fourth fund, the Black Impact Fund.
The investment further scales SoLa’s production of high-quality affordable housing in California’s major urban markets.
PayPal’s investment in SoLa’s Black Impact Fund is part of PayPal’s $535 million commitment to advance racial economic equity and support Black and underserved communities.
“PayPal is uniquely positioned to create economic opportunity for underinvested communities. This investment will contribute to progress in closing the racial wealth gap and providing access to affordable housing in Black and brown neighborhoods,” said Martin Muoto, SoLa Impact Chief Executive Officer. “We are excited to add PayPal to our cohort of leading corporate investors with a strong commitment to driving long-term transformative change and addressing economic inequality in historically underserved communities.”
SoLa Impact’s model has been disrupting the affordable housing sector by leveraging private capital, instead of government funds, to meet the extremely high demand for high-quality affordable housing in California’s urban markets. With more than a decade of demonstrated results in several of Los Angeles’s lowest-income neighborhoods, SoLa Impact has taken a unique approach to social impact—combining access to affordable housing with access to education, capital, and ownership to uplift Black and Latinx communities.
“Our investment in SoLa Impact’s Black Impact Fund is part of our ongoing focus on sustained engagement and progress in areas of economic equality and social justice,” said Aaron Anderson, Senior Vice President and Treasurer, PayPal. “Affordable housing is key to building financial health and we are committed to doing our part to break the cycle of inequality by partnering with SoLa Impact, an organization that is creating high-quality affordable housing, while creating economic opportunities in historically overlooked communities.”
The Black Impact Fund, SoLa Impact’s fourth fund, is already deploying capital in Southern California as the state faces a desperate need to confront its homelessness epidemic. With an existing portfolio of over 1,500 housing units, SoLa Impact is currently in development on an additional 1,500 affordable housing units and plans to add another 4,000 units in California over the next two years making SoLa Impact one of the nation’s largest Black-led developers and operators.
Beyond housing, SoLa Impact’s extensive social programs provide practical solutions to addressing racial inequality by equipping tenants with vocational training, financial counseling, scholarships, and pathways to homeownership and self-sufficiency. SoLa recently opened the doors of its Technology & Entrepreneurship Center and announced a partnership with Riot Games to provide students with free education and training to inspire the next generation of Black and brown tech leaders and entrepreneurs.