The CRA Qualified Investment Fund is reaching out to help Hurricane Charley victims. The mutual fund is part of a money management organization. The CRA Fund is investing 7 million dollars in the Charlotte County Hurricane Housing Recovery Program. This investment is creating a pool of millions of dollars that lenders can use to create new home mortgages. The CRA Fund Portfolio Manager Barbara VanScoy says the money will go toward home financing.

“It will be primarily low and moderate income families in Charlotte County that are looking to either purchase homes or to re-have their existing home that may have been damaged by the hurricane. / They’re not going to be given like a grant or lump sum of money. What they’re doing is they’re working with mortgage lenders and they’re getting slightly below mortgage rates.”

VanScoy says she hopes this investment will be the first of many to come from the CRA Fund. Category 4 Hurricane Charley struck Charlotte Harbor on Friday the 13th two years ago leaving thousands homeless and becoming the third costliest hurricane in U.S. history.

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Thousands of people were left homeless by Hurricane Charley and many are still struggling. That’s why the CRA Qualified Investment Fund, part of a money management organization, is investing 7 million dollars in the Charlotte County Hurricane Housing Recovery Program. The CRA Portfolio Manager Barbara VanScoy says this investment provides a good example.

“I think that this is a good template for going forward in other natural disasters to help revitalize and stabilize areas that have been hurt by natural disasters. /We’re just very excited about being able to do this in our home state of Florida and that we hope this will be just the first.”

VanScoy says the investment will help primarily low and moderate-income families by creating a pool of millions of dollars lenders can use to originate new home mortgages. This will help those left homeless by the storm by giving them slightly lower mortgage rates.