JBG SMITH Consolidates Impact Investing Operations Into LEO Impact Capital

JBG SMITH has announced the formation of LEO Impact Capital (LEO), its workforce housing investment management platform aimed at acquiring, operating, and preserving middle income housing in rapidly growing neighborhoods vulnerable to rising housing costs. LEO is a subsidiary of leading Washington, DC-region owner and developer JBG SMITH.

JBG SMITH’s existing impact investment activities have been consolidated under LEO, including management of the Washington Housing Initiative Impact Pool (the Impact Pool). The Impact Pool, launched in 2018, is an approximately $115 million investment vehicle that works with non-profit and for-profit mission driven sponsors to acquire privately owned and unsubsidized housing that’s affordable to everyday working households. Since making its first investment in 2020, the Impact Pool has helped create and preserve more than 3,000 units across DC, Maryland, and Virginia, outpacing its goal to deliver 3,000 units by 2025.

LEO’s formation comes at a time of increasing pressure for “missing middle” Americans such as teachers, nurses, firefighters, administrative assistants, and other workers whose services are vital to thriving communities and whose incomes are too high to qualify for housing subsidies but not high enough to afford average market rents for themselves and their families in many of the nation’s most populous cities. According to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, housing cost pressures are rising most rapidly among this group, with one third of missing middle renters in the U.S. currently devoting 30% or more of their incomes to rent.

AJ Jackson, who most recently served as Executive Vice President of Social Impact Investing at JBG SMITH, has been named President of LEO Impact Capital. “Our primary objective in creating LEO Impact Capital is to build on the successful track record of the Impact Pool and unlock access to opportunity for our investors, residents, and communities by helping people live in neighborhoods that set them up for success at rents they can afford,” said Jackson. “We have grown our impact investment operation significantly since launching our first social impact investment vehicle in 2018. As a result, consolidating our investment, asset, and portfolio management activities under a dedicated impact platform will allow us to continue to grow and best serve our residents, investors, and partners going forward.”

“LEO Impact Capital offers residents and our investment partners the best of both worlds,” said JBG SMITH CEO Matt Kelly. “LEO will benefit from a team of dedicated and experienced professionals focused on investing in and operating affordable workforce housing while generating fee income for JBG SMITH and strengthening its relationships in local communities. Access to affordable housing is as important to economic growth as education and job skills, and we are excited to continue to leverage our operating platform to address this critical need.”

View JBG Smith >>