The Alaska Housing Finance Corporation has announced 2014 Greater Opportunities for Affordable Living (GOAL) grants and tax credits totaling $33.2 million to seven projects, including five that leveraged grants totaling $1.5 million from the Rasmuson Foundation in Anchorage.

The grants and tax credits will support projects in five communities to develop or upgrade a total of a hundred and seventy-nine rental units for low-income and senior residents. Grantees include GMD Development, which will use the funds to acquire, renovate, and preserve a twenty-two-unit property as affordable housing for low-income families; the Cook Inlet Housing Development Corporation, which will use its funds to build forty-four new affordable rentals featuring solar energy; Kenai Peninsula Housing Initiatives, which will construct a new six-unit property for low-income families; and the Deltana Community Services Partnership, which will build six new rental units featuring solar energy for low-income seniors.

The grants and tax credits are expected to generate more than $48 million in direct economic impact.

"The inability of many Alaskans to secure stable, affordable housing is a solvable problem," said Rasmuson Foundation president Diane Kaplan. "Our $1.5 million contribution toward five of these projects is a great step forward in both our partnership with AHFC and in the foundation’s commitment to improve the lives of Alaskans."