Posted on September 13, 2010
SOMERVILLE, September 13, 2010 --- State and local officials recently gathered to celebrate the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the newly constructed Somerville Housing Authority's Capen Court senior housing complex in West Somerville.
"Capen represents the first new affordable housing built for seniors in over 30 years, and we are proud to be able to provide our low- and moderate-income senior and disabled residents with homes that allow them to keep their independence, gain access to services as they need them, and stay in Somerville," said Joe Macaluso, the Somerville Housing Authority's Executive Director.
The Capen Court complex consists of 95 one-bedroom affordable rental apartments for seniors. All apartments are affordable to residents earning below 50 percent of the area median income. MHP provided a $7.5 million first mortgage through its Massachusetts Tax-Exempt Credit for Housing Program (MATCH) bond financing program to help finance this project.
"We are pleased to help make low-cost, tax-exempt bond financing available for affordable housing developers," said Mark Curtiss, MHP's Managing Director.
The 95-unit complex is connected to another project that MHP helped finance. In 2001, MHP provided over $6.7 million in permanent rental financing to help create 97 assisted living units at the Visiting Nurse Association Assisted Living complex. Capen Court is connected to the assisted living facility through a walkway so Capen Court residents may use services provided at the VNA facility.
MHP is a state non-profit housing organization that uses private bank financing to provide permanent loans for affordable rental housing development pursuant to a 1990 state law that requires companies that purchase Massachusetts banks to make loan funds available to MHP. Since then, MHP's has provided $649 million in loans and commitments for the financing of over 15,000 units of rental housing. For more information about this project contact MHP's Deputy Director of Lending Dick Mason.