A Tri-City nonprofit will receive $1.1 million from the state Department of Commerce to support affordable housing in the Mid-Columbia.

The Tri-Cities Diversity & Inclusion Council (TCDIC) was one of 43 organizations and agencies to receive a portion of $63 million from the state’s Housing Trust Fund.

TCDIC was the only recipient to receive funding in Benton and Franklin counties, which it will use in combination with another $2 million it has secured to provide 10 affordable homes, according to data from the state.

The diversity council told the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business that it is finalizing details of the grant and plans to provide more information about the project in the months ahead.

“What I can share is that this award aligns with TCDIC’s long-standing focus on community-led solutions that expand access and opportunity in the Tri-Cities,” said Naima Chambers, the council’s founder and co-executive director, in an email to the Journal.

The awards were part of Commerce’s Homeownership Capital Programs, which offer Housing Trust Fund funding to create homeownership opportunities for income-eligible first-time homebuyers.

The trust fund receives appropriations from the Legislature’s capital budget.

The capital programs allocate funding for projects under a variety of frameworks, from down payment assistance to new construction. The state describes TCDIC’s project as a housing subsidy, which involves organizations acquiring existing homes and then selling them to low-income homebuyers at an affordable price with resale restrictions.

TCDIC’s original funding request to the state for the housing subsidy was for $3 million to make 40 affordable homes to area low-income homebuyers. The nonprofit also had proposed a down payment assistance program called Keys to Equity and requested $3 million in state funding.

Tri-County Partners Habitat for Humanity was the only other organization to make a request for funding for the Tri-Cities: $2.3 million to build six affordable homes for a project in West Richland. The organization received just over $1 million for a similar project in Walla Walla.