Impact Investing

With a more than 30-year track record, the HIT is a leader in impact investing. The HIT is committed to putting union capital to work in secure investments that produce competitive returns - its primary objective – at the same time:

The HIT's investments also:

  • provide broader economic benefits that improve the lives of working people and their communities

  • support environmentally responsible investing through investment in energy-efficient rehabilitation and retrofits of existing housing and financing new construction that meets the energy-saving requirements of LEED or other standards.

The HIT uses the widely accepted IMPLAN model* to estimate economic and fiscal impacts.

Cycle of Sustainable Investment

These impacts are part of a cycle of sustainable investment. In addition to seeking to provide investors with a competitive return, HIT also looks to ensure that the secondary impacts of its investments, which also inure to the benefit of its clients.



  • Pension plans invest capital in the HIT. This capital enables the HIT to pursue investments in multifamily development projects by purchasing government/agency multifamily construction-related securities.

  • These securities help the HIT achieve competitive returns for its investors, while its multifamily investments create quality union construction jobs. For each hour of work, contributions are made into the workers’ pension plans. The plans then may have more capital that can be invested in the HIT and the cycle continues.

  • The development and rehabilitation of multifamily housing also adds to a state or municipality’s tax base, which in turn may support the long-term health of public pensions and help reduce local government burdens.

  • As these HIT investments build and preserve housing affordable to working families, they improve the lives of local residents. These projects also help create economic development and become catalysts for future economic development. True impact investing can help transform communities.


          
                Domestic Impact
        Investing		    Impact Investing
        Handout

* The estimates of jobs and economic and financial impacts were calculated by Pinnacle Economics and the HIT using an IMPLAN input-output model based on HIT project data. The IMPLAN model works by tracing how and where money spent on construction investments circulates through the economy. The data for IMPLAN is collected by the U. S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and other federal and state government agencies. Data are collected for 528 distinct producing industry sectors of the national economy corresponding to the Standard Industrial Categories (SICs). IMPLAN is utilized currently by a number of impact managers to quantify their outputs.