Posted on May 24, 2017
BOSTON --- One of Greater Boston’s most effective providers of homes for very low-income and formerly homeless individuals has ensured its ability to provide affordable housing for years to come thanks to low-cost financing from the Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP).
Caritas Communities recently consolidated two loans representing 12 properties and 263 apartments into one $4.4 million, 40-year fixed-rate loan. The financing enabled Caritas to lower its overall interest rate to 4.38 percent and extend the affordability of these homes from 2022 to 2057.
Caritas was able to refinance these properties through MHP’s Federal Housing Administration Treasury Risk-Share Program (Treasury Risk-Share), which provides low, fixed-rate financing for new construction, or the acquisition or refinancing of existing multi-family properties. Caritas used Treasury Risk-Share to refinance six properties in Boston, two in Arlington, two in Everett, and single properties in Braintree, and Medford.
“With this loan, we have locked in our financing at an extraordinarily favorable rate
and have eliminated one of the variables that causes rents to rise.
Treasury Risk-Share is a great program and it’s great to be working with MHP.”
8th loan to Caritas
This is the eighth loan MHP has made to Caritas. It provided long-term financing to help Caritas purchase properties in 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002. Also in 2002, Caritas was the first borrower to use MHP’s MATCH Program, a joint effort with MassDevelopment to make low-interest tax-exempt financing available to small non-profits. Caritas used this program to refinance 13 of its properties.
Treasury Risk-Share will enable Caritas to make capital repairs and continue its mission of offering deeply affordable single-room occupancy (SRO) housing and supportive services to extremely low-income. All told, Caritas owns 30 buildings and provides 919 homes in 14 Greater Boston communities.
“Over the years, MHP has time and again provided us with low-cost financing that has helped us expand our mission of providing permanent affordable homes to low-income individuals in Greater Boston,” said Mark Winkeller, Caritas’ executive director. “With this loan, we have locked in our financing at an extraordinarily favorable rate for 40 years and have eliminated one of the variables that causes rents to rise. Treasury Risk-Share is a great program and it’s great to be working with MHP.”
Properties in this refinance include:
22 Fessenden Road, Arlington — 15 units
12 Russell Street, Arlington — 20 units
6 Ashland Street, Medford — 16 units
76 Norwood Street, Everett — 29 units
19 Hancock Street, Everett— 35 units
1202 Commonwealth Ave, Allston — 61 units
28 Mt Pleasant Ave, Roxbury — 20 units
179 Sydney Street, Dorchester — 12 units
289 Centre Street, Dorchester — 12 units
147 Centre Street, Dorchester — 11 units
27 Beale St, Dorchester — 11 units
15 Holbrook Ave, Braintree — 21 units
61 percent have been homeless
Caritas estimates that 61 percent of its residents have experienced homelessness in their lives and 40 percent were homeless immediately prior to living at Caritas. Also, 59 percent of Caritas residents earn under $15,000 annually, mainly in service sector jobs as cooks, security guards or retail clerks. For more information about Caritas, go to www.caritascommunities.org.
“We are once again proud to be able to help Caritas fulfill its mission of providing safe, affordable homes for the people who need it most,” said Clark Ziegler, MHP’s executive director.
MHP uses bank funds and other capital funding to provide long-term loans for affordable rental housing. Since 1990, MHP has provided over $1.1 billion in loans for the financing of more than 22,800 units of rental housing.
For more information about MHP’s rental financing programs, contact Director of Lending David Rockwell at drockwell@mhp.net or 857-317-8550 or Senior Relationship Manager Nancy McCafferty at nmccafferty@mhp.net or 857-317-8556.