Tag: The Neighborhood Developers

The Neighborhood Developers Celebrate Completion of 571 Revere

Revere’s newest affordable housing complex held a ribbon cutting ceremony on July 22 The building, known as 571 Revere, the former site of the Cove Bar on Revere Street,  is the latest initiative by The Neighborhood Developers to provide affordable housing to Revere’s residents. At the beginning of the ceremony, Rafael Mares, the executive director for The Neighborhood Developers, underscored the need for the mixed-income development. As he noted, more than 2,000 market-rate rental units have been completed, started, or planned in the Waterfront square development. With the completion of 571 Revere, The Neighborhood Developers integrates 51 affordable rental units and creates a physical connection to the existing neighborhood. The organization hopes that the project’s bright future will inspire more conversations about community well-being.

The Neighborhood Developers designed 571 Revere to respond to a vast variety of needs across the City of Revere. The development includes one, two, and three-bedroom apartments with varying affordable rent levels

571 Revere demonstrates The Neighborhood Developer’s continued commitment to the city of Revere. “571 Revere builds upon our successful community development work in Revere, where, since 2010, we have served more than 1,000 residents through our workforce development programs, preserved and created 137 affordable rental homes, funded and rebuilt public parks and public art, expanded our workforce development programs of CONNECT, and hosted many community events,” said Rafael Mares.  The ribbon cutting ceremony shall be an especially auspicious occasion for the City as it begins to pull itself up from the chaos of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“571 Revere stands as testament to what can be accomplished when government, developers, and other community stakeholders work strategically for the benefit of our neighborhoods,” said Mayor Brian M. Arrigo. “Offering a wide array of units restricted to certain income levels and just steps away from the beach, this building replicates the unique configurations that have made Revere a city we all love. A majority of these units have been offered to long-time Revere residents, and I am proud of the work we have done throughout the course of my administration to further our promotion of housing affordability,” said Mayor Brian Arrigo.

List of All Funders:

• Boston Financial Investment Management

• Department of Housing & Community Development (DHCD)

• HOME funding provided by the North Suburban Consortium through the Malden Redevelopment Authority

• Santander Bank

• MassHousing

• Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC)

• Dorfman Capital

• LISC Boston

• The Life Initiative

List of Project Partners:

• Contractor: NEI General Contracting

• Architect: Arrowstreet

• Development Consultant: Peter Munkenbeck (pronounced “Mun-ken-beck”)

• Legal Counsel: Klein Hornig; D’Ambrosio Brown; and Noble, Wickersham and Heart

• Owner’s Rep.: Matt Munkenbeck

• Environmental Engineer: Irwin Engineers

• Civil Engineer: Hancock Associates

• Landscape Architect: Off-Shoots

• Geotechnical Engineer: The Geotechnical Partnership

• Property Manager: Winn Residential

• Accountant: AAF CPAs

• Metro Housing Boston: overseeing the rental assistance that makes homes affordable

SourceRevere Journal

MassHousing Closes on $5.5 Million in Financing for 181 Chestnut Street in Chelsea

BOSTON– MassHousing has closed on a total of $5.5 million in affordable and workforce housing financing to the non-profit The Neighborhood Developers, Inc. (TND), to transform a formerly market-rate rental property at 181 Chestnut Street in Chelsea into a mixed-income housing community.

The MassHousing financing will allow TND to extend long-term affordability to households across a wide range of incomes, from very-low-income households to middle-income households.

“By converting existing market-rate apartments to affordable homes with long-lasting affordability protections, this transaction will help ensure that Chelsea residents facing rising rents will be able to continue living and working in this vibrant city,” said MassHousing Executive Director Chrystal Kornegay. “TND is a mission-oriented housing developer, and MassHousing is pleased to partner with them on this exciting project.”

“Preserving a historic building as permanent affordable housing in Chelsea’s downtown will help advance long-term community goals and will keep families in stable and healthy housing through and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic,” said The Neighborhood Developer’s Executive Director Rafael Mares. “We believe this project will also serve as a model for how community development corporations in Massachusetts can convert naturally occurring affordable housing into deed-restricted homes for low-income families.”

TND acquired the three-story brick and masonry building at 181 Chestnut Street in 2019. The MassHousing financing will allow TND to rent 30 of the previously unrestricted market-rate units to income-eligible households across a range of incomes, while two of the apartments will be rented at market rates.

Eight apartments will be subsidized with federal housing vouchers and restricted to households earning up to 30 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), and nine apartments will be restricted to households earning up to 60 percent of AMI. There will be 13 workforce housing units, of which six will be restricted to households earning up to 80 percent of AMI and seven for households earning up to 120 percent of AMI. The AMI for Chelsea is $119,000 for a family of four. None of the existing tenants will be displaced.

MassHousing is providing TND with a $4.9 million permanent loan and $650,000 in financing from the Agency’s Workforce Housing Initiative.

The transaction also involved $1 million in financing from the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), $1.1 million from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which MassHousing manages on behalf of DHCD, approximately $1.5 million in state HOME funds, $700,000 in local HOME funds provided by the North Suburban Consortium through the Malden Redevelopment Authority, $640,000 in financing from the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC), and $238,052 from a TND loan fund. CEDAC also provided $8.5 million in acquisition financing in partnership with LISC Boston’s Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Accelerator Fund and supported by Partners HealthCare and other fund investors.

181 Chestnut Street advances the Baker-Polito Administration’s goal of creating at least 1,000 new workforce housing units affordable to middle-income households through MassHousing’s Workforce Housing Initiative. Since the inception of the initiative in 2016, MassHousing has committed or closed workforce housing financing totaling $116.5 million, to 54 projects, located in 22 cities and towns. To date, the Workforce Housing Initiative has advanced the development of 4,669 housing units across a range of incomes, including 1,308 middle-income workforce units.

181 Chestnut Street was originally built as a school and convent and was converted to housing in 2015. It is within walking distance to retail shops, restaurants and the city’s commuter rail station and serviced by multiple MBTA bus routes.

The property is managed by WinnCompanies.

MassHousing has financed seven rental housing communities in Chelsea totaling 640 units of housing with an overall original loan amount of $75.6 million. The Agency has also provided home mortgage loans to 754 homebuyers and homeowners in Chelsea with an original purchase principal balance of $90.5 million.

SourceBoston Real Estate Times

Housing, health care for seniors will rise on site of former Everett church

The site of the former St. Therese church in Everett will soon see new life as a mixed-use development focused on the housing and health care needs of local seniors.

The Neighborhood Developers recently began constructing 77 affordable rental apartments for adults aged 62 and up at Broadway and Gledhill Avenue. The new building will include a ground-floor health care center for the tenants and other seniors that East Boston Neighborhood Health Center will operate through a partnership with TND.

The $33 million project also involves erecting six adjacent three-bedroom townhouses to be sold at affordable prices with no age restrictions, according to Rafael Mares, executive director of Chelsea-based TND.

The project, which has been warmly received by city officials, marks the first undertaken in Everett by the nonprofit, which owns and manages 461 rental apartments in Chelsea and Revere, many of which it developed.

“Everett is a neighboring community to Chelsea and Revere and has similar demographics,” Mares said. “There is a practical need in Everett for affordable housing for seniors so people can age in place in the community. So we felt compelled to offer our help and play whatever role we could in Everett.”

He said TND included a health care center in the project to enhance its goal of creating a place that could fully support people in their older years. Because it serves a similar region, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center was the “perfect partner” in that effort.

“We are excited about this and hope it can be a future model in our region and beyond,” Mares said of combining affordable senior housing and health care on one site.

East Boston Neighborhood Health Center maintains facilities in Boston, Revere, and Winthrop, including four community health centers, and three centers that operate under Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly, or PACE, a federal program which provides comprehensive care for older people with complex medical conditions, according to Greg Wilmot, East Boston’s senior vice president and chief operating officer.

The future Everett health center will serve PACE as well as regular primary care patients. But Wilmot said the focus will be employing PACE to provide medical and home health care services to tenants and other seniors that can help them remain independent.

“We know well that when seniors are able to stay in their communities, they are going to have better health outcomes,” he said, “and this partnership is going to give us a great opportunity to do that for the Everett community.”

St. Therese parish closed in 2004. TND purchased most of the site from the Archdiocese of Boston in 2018 after acquiring the remaining portion from another owner in 2017. The project is being financed with the help of federal and state low-income housing tax credits.

The church and other buildings have all been demolished. But Maras said TND is taking care to honor the history of the parish, including naming the development “St. Therese” and installing an interpretive exhibit about the church in a small park that it is renovating.

The rental units must be affordable to people earning up to 60 percent of area median income; with a portion affordable to those earning up to 30 percent of the median. Tenants above the 30 percent median will pay about $1,296 for a one-bedroom, and $1,550 for a two-bedroom. Other rents will be income-based. Townhouse prices will likely range from $235,000-$390,000.

The future apartment building will enjoy such common amenities as a large community room and a fitness center, along with activities that could range from cooking classes to potlucks and holiday celebrations. TND staff will also assist them in accessing services.

The project is set for completion in May 2022.

SourceThe Boston Globe

Construction begins on 51 affordable apartments in Revere

With market-rate apartments sprouting along Revere’s oceanfront, a new development is ensuring that some of them will be offered at affordable rents.

The Neighborhood Developers, a Chelsea-based nonprofit, recently broke ground on a $22 million project to construct 51 units of affordable housing at 571 Revere St., a block from the beach and near the Wonderland MBTA station.

Opening in spring 2021, the six-story building will feature a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, a shared community room, and underground parking, according to Rafael Mares, executive director of The Neighborhood Developers.

Mares said the project will help meet a growing need for affordably priced housing in the city. He said that includes the Revere Beach area, where 1,168 new market-rate apartments are completed, under construction, or planned in the Waterfront Square development area.

“Particularly in a community where rents are continuing to increase and where many local residents cannot afford to pay market-rate rents, we wanted to provide a place where people in Revere could still live in Revere and to be close to the beach and public transportation,” he said.

Thirty-two of the building’s units will be affordable to households earning up to 60 percent of the $113,300 area median income for a family of four, with 11 of those further restricted to households with incomes below that figure. Nineteen units will be “workforce housing” for households earning up to 90 percent of area median income. Preference for 70 percent of the units will go to Revere residents.

As of October 2018, market-rate rents in that neighborhood were an estimated $1,850, $2,175, and $2,650 for one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, respectively, according to Mares.

Rents at 571 Revere St. will be $1,266, $1,520, and $1,755 except for the workforce units, all one-bedrooms, which will rent for $1,778. But most rents will be subsidized based on tenant income.

The Neighborhood Developers owns 461 rental apartments in Chelsea and Revere, some of which it developed. Its Revere properties include two in the Shirley Avenue neighborhood, which is in the vicinity of the beach but is not seeing the rapid development of new market-rate units.

Bob O’Brien, Revere’s director of economic development, said the city has enjoyed a “successful and very positive relationship with The Neighborhood Developers over the years,” and welcomes its latest project.

The future affordable units will complement the market-rate apartments in Waterfront Square, O’Brien said, adding that the new building also was designed to be visually compatible with those in the square.

In addition to its new residential units, Waterfront Square when completed will encompass a 172-room Marriott Hotel and five restaurants, among other public amenities. The development also has been supported by such public investments as construction of a new pedestrian bridge linking Wonderland Station and Revere Beach.

O’Brien said the Revere Street project advances the city’s goal of expanding affordable housing, including near the beach. He noted that low-cost housing in the area is not unprecedented, citing the Jack Satter House, a decades-old 266-unit senior complex that continues to operate on Revere Beach Boulevard.

He also observed that the Waterfront Square apartments, though market-rate, are lower priced than comparable ones in Boston.

The Revere Street property was formerly the site of The Cove, a bar that closed in 2014. The Neighborhood Developers bought the parcel in 2017.

The project is being undertaken with the help of a mix of state and federal funds, including $7.9 million in financing from MassHousing.

A lottery to select future tenants is expected next winter.

John Laidler can be reached at laidler@globe.com.

SourceLISC Boston

LISC Expands Funding for Affordable Housing Near Transit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Karen Kelleher, LISC Boston
617.410.4343 | kkelleher@lisc.org

Tia M. Vice, LISC Boston
617.410.4343 | tvice@lisc.org

LISC EXPANDS FUNDING FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING NEAR TRANSIT
LISC is pleased to announce a new investment in the Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Accelerator Fund

BOSTON (February 11, 2020) – Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) is pleased to announce an increase in the Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Accelerator Fund (ETODAF or the Fund).  The Fund is a revolving loan fund that has seeded the preservation or development of more than 1,500 apartments located near transit throughout Boston and Massachusetts since 2014, 72% of them affordable to low-income households.  The new investment will help the Fund support the development of more affordable housing with access to transit by providing critical early-stage financing.

Fund Background.  The Fund was created by LISCBoston, The Boston Foundation, and the Hyams Foundation in 2014 to provide developers of affordable housing with streamlined access to acquisition and predevelopment capital to acquire and advance key properties along transit corridors.  The foundations each invested $1.5 million for 10 years at a very low interest rate.  LISC paired that with a $1 million MassWorks grant from the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, through MassDevelopment for a total revolving fund of $4 million.  LISC has leveraged that capital with $7 million of its own funds and a similar amount from other community development financial institutions.  The resulting $18 million of investment has seeded the acquisition and development of more than 1,500 apartments within walking distance of transit, 1,100 of them affordable to low-income tenants, and will attract over $400 million of additional investment.

Why Transit-Oriented Development?   ETODAF-funded projects must be located within a quarter to a half-mile of a subway, train or major bus line, to ensure that residents have equitable access to affordable transit, which usually translates to access to jobs, education, health care, shopping, services, and other critical resources and amenities.  Where done successfully by a community-focused developer, transit-oriented development also attracts businesses and jobs, maximizes existing infrastructure, and capitalizes on new investments to make neighborhoods more vibrant.   The Fund can be used throughout the Commonwealth, and has invested in thirteen different neighborhoods, empowering developers revitalizing their communities in some cases, and those staving off displacement in others.

The Fund’s Impact.   The Fund has seeded the development of 22 affordable or mixed-income apartment properties near transit, all of them by nonprofit developers and most by local community development corporations.  These developments will result in more than 1,500 housing units, with 72% of those units restricted as affordable for at least 30 years.  Construction and operation of the affordable units requires additional construction and permanent financing and subsidy, but ETODAF provides critical early-stage financing that enables fast action to acquire parcels and replaces the cash equity developers otherwise need to buy properties in a hot market and to finance the early, high-risk predevelopment costs that other lenders will not finance.  The Fund has invested in both rental and homeownership units, in new construction and preservation, and in diverse communities including Gateway Cities, suburban communities, and Boston neighborhoods.

Catalyzing Community-Based Development by Sharing Risk.  While most lenders will only lend a buyer 70 or 80 percent of the property’s value, ETODAF lends more than the property value to empower affordable developers to secure these critical parcels.  This means the Fund takes on some of the risk that a developer typically bears. This makes the Fund particularly useful for community-based nonprofit developers who lack cash reserves needed to put their own equity into an acquisition.  All of ETODAF’s borrowers to-date have been nonprofit organizations.  For-profit affordable housing developers are eligible to borrow from the Fund for eligible projects, but they would pay a higher interest rate.

New Investment in the Fund.  Partners HealthCare recently became the newest investor in the Fund, joining the two foundations as a low-cost investor, with a $1.5 million investment that matches the foundations’ initial investments, making it an equal investment partner. Partners HealthCare answered LISC’s call for an investor at this level to increase the fund’s impact quickly. The Fund has been fully deployed for some time, making new loans only when prior loans are repaid.  Partners stepped in because it understands how fundamental affordable, stable housing is to health. Its investment enables LISC to achieve even greater leverage with this small but impactful fund.

A Growing Partnership Between Health Care and Community Development. With this investment, Partners HealthCare joins a growing list of healthcare institutions nationally that are partnering with community development organizations like LISC to support healthy, economically strong families and communities. Partners HealthCare, like many health institutions, understands that as much as 80% of health outcomes are determined by social factors such as whether one has safe, affordable housing, economic stability, access to healthy food and opportunities for recreation.  These so-called social determinants of health are at the heart of comprehensive community development, the focus of LISC’s work for 40 years.  Partners joins ProMedica, Sentara Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente, Dignity Health, Atrium Health and other health systems around the country working with LISC to coinvest in healthy communities.

Housing and Health Partnerships in Communities.   Most recently, the Fund invested, together with LISC and Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC), in an acquisition loan to The Neighborhood Developers, Inc. (TND), a nonprofit community development corporation that works in Chelsea, Revere and Everett.  TND used the financing to purchase 181 Chestnut Street, a 32-unit market-rate multifamily building in Chelsea near Bellingham Square, on the MBTA’s Silver Line.  Given the pace of development in the neighborhood, the building would otherwise have sold to a profit-motivated purchaser who would likely have raised the existing below-market rents, resulting in displacement or financial instability for the existing tenants.

Instead, TND will make modest repairs and commit to keeping most of the units affordable long-term to tenants of low- and moderate-income levels.  The Fund and LISC provided flexible, low-cost capital via a participation in a loan originated by CEDAC, a public-private community development finance institution.  The Fund’s investment would not have been possible without the recent infusion of capital from Partners.  Partners was particularly excited for the Fund to support stable, affordable housing in Chelsea where it is deeply invested at a property that is walking distance from the Mass General Hospital’s Chelsea HealthCare Center.

According to LISC Executive Director Karen Kelleher, there is great demand for additional flexible, low-cost financing for properties like this one, particularly where the city or town is willing to invest public dollars to support long-term affordability.  “The Commonwealth, particularly Greater Boston, is facing both a housing affordability crisis and a transit crisis.  We are eager to work with more civic leaders like Partners to step up and invest in solutions that prioritize community health and equity and link housing and transit.”

“Developing and protecting affordable housing within reach of transit is a game-changer for thousands of people in Greater Boston,” said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation. “These developments not only provide and sustain affordable housing that is so critical for individuals, workers and families, they also provide easier access to jobs and services that have a powerful impact on quality of life. We welcome Partners’ addition to the Fund.”

###

About LISC

Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) provides grants, financing, and technical assistance to community development corporations (CDCs), nonprofit developers, grassroots organizations, as well as policy and advocacy organizations throughout Massachusetts. Working with local leaders, we invest in affordable housing, health, education, public safety and employment. As part of a national organization with deep local roots, LISC Boston is uniquely positioned to share resources, develop best practices, and craft innovations with the communities we serve. To learn more, visit http://www.lisc.org/boston .

About The Boston Foundation

The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, seeks to bring the collective power of our region’s people and resources together to drive real change. Established in 1915, it is one of the largest community foundations in the nation—with net assets of $1.3 billion. In 2019, the Foundation received $151 million in contributions and the Foundation and its donors paid $153 million in grants to nonprofit organizations. The Foundation has many partners, including its donors, who have established more than 1,000 separate charitable funds for the general benefit of the community or for special purposes. With support from the Annual Campaign for Civic Leadership, the Foundation also facilitates public discourse and action, commissions research into the most critical issues of our time and advocates for public policy that advances opportunity for everyone.

About The Hyams Foundation

The Hyams Foundation is a private, independent foundation with a mission of increasing economic, racial and social justice and power within low-income communities in Boston and Chelsea, Massachusetts. Our vision for the future is a society in which systems and structures are transformed to create the conditions for increased collective well-being and produce equitable power, access, opportunities and outcomes, regardless of race.  For more about Hyams, visit www.hyamsfoundation.org .

About Partners HealthCare

Partners HealthCare is an integrated health care system, founded by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, that offers patients a continuum of coordinated and high-quality care. In addition to its two academic medical centers, the system includes community and specialty hospitals, a health insurance plan, a physician network, community health centers, home health and long-term care services, and other health care entities. Partners is a non-profit organization that is committed to patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community. In addition, Partners is one of the nation’s leading biomedical research organizations and is a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.

About The Neighborhood Developers

The Neighborhood Developers (TND) promotes economic diversity, opportunity and quality of life in struggling communities. TND’s mission is to bring its core strengths—building homes, engaging neighbors, and fostering economic mobility—to community partnerships that create great neighborhoods where all people can thrive. Our work deepens the impact and scale our strengths through strategic growth, community leadership, strong partnerships, and refined programming. For additional information on TND, please visit https://theneighborhooddevelopers.org/ .

About CEDAC

CEDAC is a public-private community development finance institution that provides financial resources and technical expertise for community-based and other non-profit organizations engaged in effective community development in Massachusetts. CEDAC’s work supports two key building blocks of community development: affordable housing and early care and education.  CEDAC is also active in state and national housing preservation policy research and development and is widely recognized as a leader in the non-profit community development industry. For additional information on CEDAC and its current projects, please visit www.cedac.org .

SourceLISC Boston

Local Initiatives Support Corporation Expands Funding for Affordable Housing Near Transit

Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) announced an increase in the Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Accelerator Fund (ETODAF or the Fund).

The Fund is a revolving loan fund that has seeded the preservation or development of more than 1,500 apartments located near transit throughout Boston and Massachusetts since 2014, 72% of them affordable to low-income households.  The new investment will help the Fund support the development of more affordable housing with access to transit by providing critical early-stage financing.

Fund Background

The Fund was created by LISCBoston, The Boston Foundation, and the Hyams Foundation in 2014 to provide developers of affordable housing with streamlined access to acquisition and predevelopment capital to acquire and advance key properties along transit corridors.  The foundations each invested $1.5 million for 10 years at a very low interest rate.  LISC paired that with a $1 million MassWorks grant from the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, through MassDevelopment for a total revolving fund of $4 million.

LISC has leveraged that capital with $7 million of its own funds and a similar amount from other community development financial institutions.  The resulting $18 million of investment has seeded the acquisition and development of more than 1,500 apartments within walking distance of transit, 1,100 of them affordable to low-income tenants, and will attract over $400 million of additional investment.

Why Transit-Oriented Development?

ETODAF-funded projects must be located within a quarter to a half-mile of a subway, train or major bus line, to ensure that residents have equitable access to affordable transit, which usually translates to access to jobs, education, health care, shopping, services, and other critical resources and amenities.  Where done successfully by a community-focused developer, transit-oriented development also attracts businesses and jobs, maximizes existing infrastructure, and capitalizes on new investments to make neighborhoods more vibrant.

The Fund can be used throughout the Commonwealth, and has invested in thirteen different neighborhoods, empowering developers revitalizing their communities in some cases, and those staving off displacement in others.

The Fund’s Impact

The Fund has seeded the development of 22 affordable or mixed-income apartment properties near transit, all of them by nonprofit developers and most by local community development corporations.  These developments will result in more than 1,500 housing units, with 72% of those units restricted as affordable for at least 30 years.  Construction and operation of the affordable units requires additional construction and permanent financing and subsidy, but ETODAF provides critical early-stage financing that enables fast action to acquire parcels and replaces the cash equity developers otherwise need to buy properties in a hot market and to finance the early, high-risk predevelopment costs that other lenders will not finance.

The Fund has invested in both rental and homeownership units, in new construction and preservation, and in diverse communities including Gateway Cities, suburban communities, and Boston neighborhoods.

Catalyzing Community-Based Development by Sharing Risk

While most lenders will only lend a buyer 70 or 80 percent of the property’s value, ETODAF lends more than the property value to empower affordable developers to secure these critical parcels.  This means the Fund takes on some of the risk that a developer typically bears. This makes the Fund particularly useful for community-based nonprofit developers who lack cash reserves needed to put their own equity into an acquisition.  All of ETODAF’s borrowers to-date have been nonprofit organizations.  For-profit affordable housing developers are eligible to borrow from the Fund for eligible projects, but they would pay a higher interest rate.

New Investment in the Fund

Partners HealthCare recently became the newest investor in the Fund, joining the two foundations as a low-cost investor, with a $1.5 million investment that matches the foundations’ initial investments, making it an equal investment partner. Partners HealthCare answered LISC’s call for an investor at this level to increase the fund’s impact quickly. The Fund has been fully deployed for some time, making new loans only when prior loans are repaid.  Partners stepped in because it understands how fundamental affordable, stable housing is to health. Its investment enables LISC to achieve even greater leverage with this small but impactful fund.

A Growing Partnership Between Health Care and Community Development

With this investment, Partners HealthCare joins a growing list of healthcare institutions nationally that are partnering with community development organizations like LISC to support healthy, economically strong families and communities. Partners HealthCare, like many health institutions, understands that as much as 80% of health outcomes are determined by social factors such as whether one has safe, affordable housing, economic stability, access to healthy food and opportunities for recreation.  These so-called social determinants of health are at the heart of comprehensive community development, the focus of LISC’s work for 40 years.  Partners joins ProMedica, Sentara Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente, Dignity Health, Atrium Health and other health systems around the country working with LISC to coinvest in healthy communities.

Housing and Health Partnerships in Communities

Most recently, the Fund invested, together with LISC and Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC), in an acquisition loan to The Neighborhood Developers, Inc. (TND), a nonprofit community development corporation that works in Chelsea, Revere and Everett.  TND used the financing to purchase 181 Chestnut Street, a 32-unit market-rate multifamily building in Chelsea near Bellingham Square, on the MBTA’s Silver Line.  Given the pace of development in the neighborhood, the building would otherwise have sold to a profit-motivated purchaser who would likely have raised the existing below-market rents, resulting in displacement or financial instability for the existing tenants.

Instead, TND will make modest repairs and commit to keeping most of the units affordable long-term to tenants of low- and moderate-income levels.  The Fund and LISC provided flexible, low-cost capital via a participation in a loan originated by CEDAC, a public-private community development finance institution.  The Fund’s investment would not have been possible without the recent infusion of capital from Partners.  Partners was particularly excited for the Fund to support stable, affordable housing in Chelsea where it is deeply invested at a property that is walking distance from the Mass General Hospital’s Chelsea HealthCare Center.

According to LISC Executive Director Karen Kelleher, there is great demand for additional flexible, low-cost financing for properties like this one, particularly where the city or town is willing to invest public dollars to support long-term affordability.  “The Commonwealth, particularly Greater Boston, is facing both a housing affordability crisis and a transit crisis.  We are eager to work with more civic leaders like Partners to step up and invest in solutions that prioritize community health and equity and link housing and transit.”

“Developing and protecting affordable housing within reach of transit is a game-changer for thousands of people in Greater Boston,” said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation. “These developments not only provide and sustain affordable housing that is so critical for individuals, workers and families, they also provide easier access to jobs and services that have a powerful impact on quality of life. We welcome Partners’ addition to the Fund.”

SourceBoston Real Estate Times

MassHousing Commits $7.9 Million in Financing for New, 51-Unit Mixed-Income Rental Housing Community in Revere

MassHousing has committed $7.9 million in affordable housing financing to the non-profit The Neighborhood Developers (TND) for the construction of the 571 Revere Street in Revere, MA.

The MassHousing financing will allow The Neighborhood Developers to construct 51 units of new affordable housing for households across a broad range of incomes, including 19 new workforce housing units.

“By transforming a vacant parcel into a new, modern community of affordable and workforce housing, The Neighborhood Developers will help ensure that a revitalized Revere Beach remains welcoming and accessible to residents of all means,” said MassHousing Executive Director Chrystal Kornegay. “TND is a strong, mission-based developer, and MassHousing is pleased to be part of the team making this important project a reality.”

“571 Revere Street is a transit-oriented development; the 51 new affordable homes will not only be steps away from the beach, but also within easy walking distance of the Wonderland MBTA Station and the MBTA 116 bus line, said Rafael Mares, TND’s Executive Director. “This project wouldn’t be possible without MassHousing’s commitment of affordable housing financing and its partnership.”

MassHousing is providing TND with a $6 million permanent loan and $1.9 million in workforce housing financing from the Agency’s Workforce Housing Initiative.

In addition to the MassHousing financing, other funding sources include $9.3 million in federal and state Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity, $1.3 million in direct financing from the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), $1.2 million in HOME financing from the North Suburban Consortium, a $206,511 sponsor energy grant loan, $1.1 million in financing from the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC) and $1 million from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which MassHousing manages on behalf of DHCD. Santander Bank will be providing construction financing.

571 Revere Street advances the Baker-Polito Administration’s goal of creating up to 1,000 new workforce housing units affordable to middle-income households through MassHousing’s $100 million Workforce Housing Initiative. Since the inception of the initiative in 2016, MassHousing has committed or closed workforce housing financing totaling $92.4 million, to 40 projects, located in 19 cities and towns. To date, the Workforce Housing Initiative has advanced the development of 3,727 housing units across a range of incomes, including 1,006 workforce housing units.

The new, energy efficient housing will be constructed in a six-story building on a vacant site two blocks from Revere Beach and within walking distance to the MBTA’s Wonderland subway station. The apartments will be on the top four floors of the building, with garage parking on the first two levels.

Thirty-two apartments will be affordable for households earning at or below 60 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), with 6 of those units further restricted for vulnerable low-income households earning at or below 30 percent of AMI, and 5 of the affordable units further restricted for households earning at or below 50 percent of AMI. The remaining 19 apartments will be workforce housing units for households earning at or below 90 percent of AMI. The AMI for Revere is $113,300 for a household of four.

Eight of the apartments will be subsidized by a federal Section 8 Project Based Housing Assistance Payment contract and 3 apartments will be subsidized through the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program. There will be 26 one-bedroom apartments, 21 two-bedroom apartments, and 4 three-bedroom apartments.

The general contractor will be NEI General Contracting, the architect is Arrowstreet and the management agent is WinnCompanies.

MassHousing has financed 4 rental housing communities in Revere involving 290 housing units and $17.4 million in financing. The Agency has additionally provided home mortgage loans to 721 Revere homebuyers and homeowners involving $115.5 million in financing.

SourceBoston Real Estate Times