Harvard President Neil L. Rudenstine is expected to announce a multi-million dollar initiative today to use University money to fund affordable housing in Cambridge and Boston over the next 20 years.

Rudenstine is scheduled to unveil the plan at a press conference at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) with Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Cambridge City Manager Robert W. Healy.

It will call for the University to give $20 million in low-interest loans and a $1 million grant to three non-profit groups in the Boston area. The loan money will be given by those groups to affordable-housing organizations and the grant will go to fund housing research.

"This is part of what I see as a continuous effort to help build housing stock over two decades," Rudenstine said.

Harvard's Vice President of Government, Community and Public Affairs Paul S. Grogan spearheaded the initiative, which will also include a Faculty advisory committee that he will chair.

The University will loan the $20 million over 20 years at two percent interest, a rate significantly lower than those offered by government agencies and private banks. The money will be dispensed to local housing development groups--$10 million to Cambridge and $10 million to Boston.

Using non-profit groups as intermediaries allows Harvard to take a hands-off approach.

"We don't want to directly underwrite housing initiatives. That's not what we do," Grogan said.