MHP commits $2.3M to help Allston-Brighton CDC preserve 59 units

BOSTON --- Housing and neighborhood leaders past and present gathered on Glenville Avenue in Allston earlier this month to celebrate the grand opening of Ray Dooley Apartments, a 59-unit affordable rental housing effort named after the longtime former budget director for Mayor Ray Flynn.

Dooley, who died last year of pancreatic cancer at age 54, was remembered by family and friends – including Rep. Kevin Honan and Mayor Flynn – for his devotion to the city and affordable housing. Dooley was a founding board member of the Allston-Brighton Community Development Corporation (ABCDC), which developed the 59 units, and was chief architect of Boston’s Neighborhood Housing Trust, which to date has helped create over 6,000 affordable units throughout the city.

“Nothing would give Ray more pleasure than having something like this named after him,” said Dooley’s wife Anne Rowland, who came from her home in Ireland with her two children to speak at the April 5 event. “And someday Ray’s grandchildren can come here and see what he was about – helping the poor and those with special needs.”

Mixed financing creates ‘public’ housing

The resourcefulness Dooley brought to affordable housing is embodied in this effort as ABCDC used a unique blend of private and public financing to purchase four market-rate apartments and rehabilitate them into affordable housing. Three of the buildings hold the 59 affordable rental units. A fourth building will be rehabilitated into 37 affordable condominiums.

Most unique is that public and private funds – known as mixed financing – were used to create public and private housing in the rental part of the project. The Boston Housing Authority provided a $1.8 million grant through the federal Hope VI program and a yearly operating subsidy of federal funds for 34 of the rental units, which will be considered public housing units. Most often, public funds are used only for public housing projects, and are rarely mixed with private funds to acquire and convert market-rate housing, or in properties that offer both private and public housing.

MHP helps increase affordability

MHP helped finance the rental portion of the effort, committing $1.3 million in first-mortgage financing, a $750,000 deferred-payment Home Funders second mortgage, and $265,800 to remove lead paint from the apartments. 

Home Funders, a program funded by some of greater Boston’s most prestigious charitable institutions, is offered by MHP to help borrowers make more units available to lower-income families.  With the Home Funders second mortgage, 15 multi-bedroom apartments will be set aside for families earning 30 percent of the area median income, which in Boston is $25,250 for a household of two.

All of the rental units have been made affordable to households with incomes between 15 and 60 percent of the median income. Sixteen units are targeted for household incomes below $10,100; 16 for households below $20,200; seven for households below $33,650; 16 for households below $40,380; and nine for residents with Section 8 vouchers.

The homeownership units will be sold to households with incomes below 80 percent of the median, or $53,824.

Other funding sources

Funding sources from the public sector include the state’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund and federal HOME funds contributed through the City of Boston and the state Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).

In addition to the $2.3 million being provided by MHP, private sector investments include the sale of federal low-income housing tax credits awarded by DHCD; construction financing by Bank of America and further financing from the Combined Jewish Philanthropies, which will provide services for residents in the eight apartments set aside for individuals with autism.

ABCDC received acquisition financing from a consortium of lenders that included the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corp., Boston Community Capital, Property Casualty Initiative, and the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation.

Fourth loan to ABCDC

This is the fourth time that MHP has provided financing to ABCDC.  Previously, MHP financed the preservation of the 60-unit Allston-Brighton Apartments and the 20-unit Hano Homes.  More recently, MHP provided the first and second mortgage financing for Brian J. Honan Apartments, a new 50-unit affordable housing effort on the site of the former Legal Seafoods site.

All told, MHP has now provided nearly $7 million in loans and commitments to ABCDC for the financing of 189 units of rental housing, 179 of these affordable.  And throughout Boston, MHP’s bank-funded loan pool has provided over $150 million in loans and commitments for the financing of over 4,000 rental units.

For more information, contact MHP's Callie Clark at 617-330-9944 ext. 336.