Helen Kanovsky of AFL-CIO Housing Trust

It may not garner the media play of a CalPers, but the AFL-CIO Investment Program is no trifling matter. The program, which is the umbrella for three financing entities, represents some $4 billion in pension capital. That war chest empowers a Building Investment Trust, which focuses on commercial and industrial investment and development; an Urban Development Fund, a closed-end equity fund geared to institutional-quality commercial development in first and second-tier cities; and a Housing Investment Trust. HIT currently manages some $2.7 billion in multi- and single-family assets, with the bulk (roughly 70%) in the former. Helen Kanovsky , HIT’s COO and a six-year veteran of the trust, says that there is one overarching rule–a charter requirement, in fact–that governs the three entities: that all related development be performed fully by union labor. Kanovsky–who actually broke up her tenure at HIT with a one-year stint as chief of staff for US senator John Kerry (D-MA)–says that in addition to the charter requirement, if the investment can also further the economic viability of the locale, that’s an added value. HIT recently did just that with a $4-million investment in Chicago’s 53-unit Leontyne affordable-housing project. But such activity, in certain cases, is easier said than done, since not all communities–or all developers–are pro-union. Kanovsky explains:

GlobeSt.com: Which cities garner most of your attention?

Kanovsky: We tend to be more active in the Northeast, the Midwest and the West Coast, although we have invested in Atlanta and San Antonio and Florida. There are actually very few places we have not been.