Model/Z, a Los Angeles modular housing developer, secured $32 million in New Markets Tax Credits to finance affordable and workforce housing construction. That number says more than any press release.
Model/Z is an affiliate of South L.A. developer SoLa Impact, which closed on $93 million in financing earlier this month for a separate 166-unit affordable project. The financing will support construction of roughly 800 modular units for delivery in the next year, plus another 2,500 affordable and workforce units in Watts and South Los Angeles.
Greenline Community Development Fund provided $18 million of the allocation, with New Markets Community Capital contributing $14 million. Dudley Ventures and Valley National Bank acted as tax credit investors.
Model/Z manufactures steel-frame modules at its Watts factory, which opened in 2024 and has produced more than 500 housing modules to date. The company employs plumbers, electricians, and manufacturing crews, and expects the financed projects to create or retain more than 117 jobs.
One project using Model/Z modules, the 90-unit 105th & Central development by Logos Faith Development, sits on church-owned land in South Los Angeles. New Markets Tax Credits have funneled $91 billion into community development projects since 2002, according to the U.S. Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.
Easy to announce, harder to underwrite.