Community development finance in the United States spans public appropriations, mission-driven lending, affordable housing, small-business credit, Native-area investment, and food-access projects. The statistics below show both the scale of federal programs and how much activity reached distressed or underserved communities. Figures are reported for the stated fiscal year or measurement period; projections are identified as projections.
Contents
- Public funding for community development finance
- CDFI lending reach in underserved communities
- Affordable housing financed through community development programs
- Small-business and local-enterprise finance
- Native, rural, and food-access finance
- Community development finance performance and leverage
Public funding for community development finance
The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund Program received $165 million in appropriated resources in FY 2021. Appropriations then reached $196 million in FY 2023 and were $188 million in FY 2024. The enacted FY 2026 appropriation was also $188 million, while the FY 2027 President’s Budget request set the program appropriation at $0. These are different stages of the federal budget process, so the FY 2027 request should not be read as an enacted funding level. Community Development Financial Institutions Fund FY 2027 Congressional Justification
The FY 2024 appropriations listed for related programs show how community development finance is distributed across specialized needs:
| Program | FY 2024 appropriated resources |
|---|---|
| CDFI Fund Program | $188 million |
| Bank Enterprise Award Program | $40 million |
| Native American CDFI Assistance Program | $28 million |
| Healthy Food Financing Initiative | $24 million |
| Small Dollar Loan Program | $9 million |
The Bank Enterprise Award Program had $40 million in FY 2024 appropriated resources. The Native American CDFI Assistance Program had $28 million, while the Healthy Food Financing Initiative had $24 million. The Small Dollar Loan Program had $9 million. Each figure is a FY 2024 appropriation reported in the Treasury budget document, not a measure of total lending or investment generated by the program. Community Development Financial Institutions Fund FY 2027 Congressional Justification
CDFI lending reach in underserved communities
The CDFI Fund tracks the share of CDFI loans and investments originated in eligible distressed or underserved communities. By dollar amount, the share was 71.40% in FY 2021, 67.10% in FY 2022, 66.00% in FY 2023, and 76.10% in FY 2024. The FY 2025 figure was 65.64%; the budget document notes that FY 2025 actuals may be revised because of reporting lags. Community Development Financial Institutions Fund FY 2027 Congressional Justification
The corresponding results by loan count were 75.70% in FY 2021, 77.70% in FY 2022, 71.60% in FY 2023, and 88.70% in FY 2024. The dollar and count measures answer different questions: dollar share indicates where the value of financing went, while loan-count share indicates where the number of transactions went. A higher count share than dollar share can occur when activity includes many comparatively smaller loans, but the supplied figures do not quantify average loan size.
| Fiscal year | Eligible-community share by dollar amount | Eligible-community share by loan count |
|---|---|---|
| FY 2021 | 71.40% | 75.70% |
| FY 2022 | 67.10% | 77.70% |
| FY 2023 | 66.00% | 71.60% |
| FY 2024 | 76.10% | 88.70% |
The FY 2024 result is the highest supplied year for both measures: 76.10% by dollar amount and 88.70% by loan count. The FY 2025 percentage is available for the dollar measure at 65.64%, but a FY 2025 loan-count percentage is not included in the reported series. Community Development Financial Institutions Fund FY 2027 Congressional Justification
Affordable housing financed through community development programs
CDFI Fund programs developed or produced 58,125 affordable housing units in FY 2021. The total rose to 71,615 units in FY 2022 and 109,599 units in FY 2023. It then measured 84,386 units in FY 2024 and 67,463 units in FY 2025. These are annual program totals, not a cumulative inventory. The budget document notes that FY 2023 housing totals include CDFI Rapid Response FY 2021 recipients and FY 2025 totals include CDFI Equitable Recovery FY 2023 recipients, so the series should be interpreted in light of those program inclusions. FY 2025 actuals may also be revised because of reporting lags. Community Development Financial Institutions Fund FY 2027 Congressional Justification
The FY 2024 Capital Magnet Fund award round supplied a separate housing and community-facilities measure. Awards totaled $246.4 million and were projected to produce more than 26,400 affordable housing units. More than 25,600 of those projected units were rental units, and more than 750 were homeownership units. The unit counts are projections for the FY 2024 award round, not completed-unit counts. U.S. Department of the Treasury Announces Awards to Support Development of 26,400 Affordable Housing Units
These two measures have different scopes. The CDFI Fund series reports units developed or produced by CDFI Fund programs during a fiscal year. The Capital Magnet Fund figures describe the expected output of one award round and include both affordable housing and community facilities in the award total. They should not be added together.
Small-business and local-enterprise finance
State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) jurisdictions reported nearly $750 million in program spending from August 5, 2022, through December 31, 2023. That spending supported transactions producing $3.1 billion in new financing, including $2.6 billion in private financing. The figures describe reported activity over the stated period, not a full-year total. U.S. Department of the Treasury Releases New Report Showing State Small Business Credit Initiative Has Supported $3.1 Billion in New Financing for Small Businesses
The median new financing amount was $87,700 for an SSBCI loan transaction and $880,000 for an SSBCI investment transaction during 2022–2023. Those medians distinguish the typical reported loan transaction from the typical investment transaction; they are not averages and should not be combined.
SSBCI transactions also reached business groups often emphasized in community development finance. Minority-owned businesses received support in 40% of transactions, underserved businesses accounted for 75%, and businesses with fewer than 10 employees accounted for 78%. CDFIs supported 63% of SSBCI loan transactions. The percentages refer to transactions, not dollars or unique businesses.
SSBCI loan and investment transactions were expected to create or retain more than 46,200 jobs. This is a projection stated for the August 5, 2022–December 31, 2023 reporting period. Separately, SSBCI venture-capital programs invested $211 million and generated $1.2 billion in new financing for more than 600 companies during 2022–2023. U.S. Department of the Treasury Releases New Report Showing State Small Business Credit Initiative Has Supported $3.1 Billion in New Financing for Small Businesses
Native, rural, and food-access finance
The Native American CDFI Assistance (NACA) measure reports the share of NACA loans and investments in Native areas by dollar amount. That share was 60.10% in FY 2021, 65.30% in FY 2022, 89.00% in FY 2023, 86.10% in FY 2024, and 73% in FY 2025. The FY 2025 figure may be revised because of reporting lags noted in the CDFI Fund budget document. Community Development Financial Institutions Fund FY 2027 Congressional Justification
| Fiscal year | NACA loans and investments in Native areas, by dollar amount |
|---|---|
| FY 2021 | 60.10% |
| FY 2022 | 65.30% |
| FY 2023 | 89.00% |
| FY 2024 | 86.10% |
| FY 2025 | 73% |
The Healthy Food Financing Initiative created or preserved 29 retail outlets in FY 2021 and 32 in FY 2022. The count was 23 in FY 2023, 17 in FY 2024, and 21 in FY 2025. These are annual counts of retail outlets created or preserved, not a cumulative total. The same FY 2024 budget document lists $24 million in appropriated resources for the initiative. Community Development Financial Institutions Fund FY 2027 Congressional Justification
Community development finance performance and leverage
Operational timing provides another way to read community development finance performance. The CDFI Fund-wide average award cycle time was 5.6 months in FY 2021, 8.8 months in FY 2022, 8.0 months in FY 2023, 8.6 months in FY 2024, and 10.9 months in FY 2025. These are average months across the CDFI Fund, not the duration of a specific applicant’s award process. Community Development Financial Institutions Fund FY 2027 Congressional Justification
The CDFI Fund-wide average time to initial disbursement was 5.3 months in FY 2021, 3.5 months in FY 2022, 2.2 months in FY 2023, and 2.28 months in FY 2024. The supplied series does not include a FY 2025 value for this measure. Award cycle time and time to initial disbursement are separate measures: one describes the award cycle, while the other describes the time until the first disbursement. Community Development Financial Institutions Fund FY 2027 Congressional Justification
The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) measure shows the share of loans and investments going into severely distressed communities. It was 77.00% in FY 2021, 79.00% in FY 2022, and 75.40% in FY 2023. The measure covers NMTC loans and investments and is not interchangeable with the broader CDFI lending-reach percentages reported earlier. Community Development Financial Institutions Fund FY 2027 Congressional Justification
Together, the measures describe several dimensions of community development finance: appropriated public resources, the geographic and community reach of lending, affordable housing output, small-business financing, Native-area activity, food-access infrastructure, and administrative timing. Because the programs use different denominators, periods, and definitions, each statistic is most useful when read with its stated unit, geography, and measurement date.