The Community Lending Division at U.S. Bank originated more than $1 billion in new loans last year, helping to finance more affordable housing in the country.
The community lending arm provides financing to developers for the construction, rehabilitation and acquisition of rental housing for low- and moderate income individuals and families.
In 2013, the group originated nearly $1.1 billion in loans, up from $950 million the previous year.
"Hitting $1 billion in new loans in a single year is not only a milestone for us, but a sign of the continued need for affordable housing in the United States," said Kyle Hansen, executive vice president of the division.
A release on the new stats quotes a January 2014 report from the Urban Land Institute and Enterprise Community Partners, that shows the number of extremely-low-income renters jumped to 12.1 million in 2011 from 9.6 million in 2007.
Despite that trend, the supply of affordable rental housing did not keep pace, the release states. In 2011, according to the report, there were just 6.8 million housing units affordable to extremely-low-income renters, a shortfall of 5.3 million units.
"At U.S. Bank, we want to do our part to help close this gap," Hansen said. "By combining our real estate expertise with this commitment to affordable rental housing, we are helping to address this need one affordable housing development at a time."
