3rd Street Apartments saved from market-rate rent amid a historic shortage of affordable homes in San Diego, thanks to old and new partnerships
SAN DIEGO, CA – (RealEstateRama) – Housing Innovation Partners (HIP) got an essential loan from Enterprise Community Loan Fund (ECLF) and Mercy Loan Fund (MLF) to acquire and preserve 22 homes for low-income families in need.
ECLF is providing a $3.2MM first position loan and reached out to MLF to complete the financing, by providing an additional 10% of the acquisition cost. The two Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) have a longstanding relationship. MLF is helping ECLF to complete this loan with their support. ECLF’s S&P rating limited them to 80% LTV on certain lending and reached out to MLF to bring the total financing up to 90% LTV so these desperately needed homes could stay affordable. Without this preservation, 43rd Street Apartments was in severe danger of being purchased and turned into far costlier market-rate rental units.
HIP focuses exclusively on developing permanent supportive housing for low-income, special needs people in the San Diego community. In a state that’s at the epicenter of the affordable housing debate—this deal preserves what’s already available—avoiding the tumultuous zoning debates that continue throughout the region.
Many of HIP’s existing residents are expected to move into the units from their other properties as current residents move out. HIP will backfill the apartments with new residents that meet the low-income criteria as current residents move out. No one will be displaced. Many of San Diego’s homeless-dedication programs are bottle-necked, and long-term residents can’t graduate out of fully supportive housing due to the chronic lack of affordable housing—43rd Street Apartments will help to change that. This community offers a graduation to more independent living for residents that were previously housed at other HIP properties.
This is a new partnership between MLF and HIP. Both organizations’ focus on providing supportive services to residents and this sparked initial interests. Services at 43rd Street Apartments includes student internship programs and housing stability with their partner, Community Research Foundation, offering additional services as well.
“MLF prides itself on making new borrower relationships within high-cost markets like San Diego because it makes a difference. HIP shares our passion for providing residents more than just a roof over their heads, they focus on giving the residents the services they need to thrive and we truly value that.”—Adam Kopp, Mercy Loan Fund, Lending Manager
About Mercy Loan Fund
For three decades, Mercy Loan Fund has focused exclusively on funding affordable housing and essential community infrastructure projects that support affordable housing. By collaborating with socially responsible developers, Mercy Loan Fund has helped finance the development of single and multifamily homes for rental and homeownership. These developments help a variety of people including low-income families, the working poor, seniors, farm works, people who have experienced homelessness, and people with special needs. Mercy Loan Fund is a subsidiary of the affordable housing nonprofit, Mercy Housing. For more information, please visit mercyloanfund.org.
About Housing Innovation Partners
Housing Innovation Partners’ mission is to develop safe, affordable housing for homeless persons with disabilities. Housing Innovation Partners is a dba of The Association For Community Housing Solutions, a non-profit 501c3 housing developer located in Southern California’s San Diego County. The Association For Community Housing Solutions dba Housing Innovation Partners was incorporated in 1994 and has grown to become the only housing developer in San Diego County focusing solely on the development of permanent supportive housing for low-income, special needs individuals. Housing Innovation Partners has its corporate offices in the City of San Diego, and properties located throughout the county.
About Enterprise Community Loan Fund
One of the largest nonprofit loan funds in the country, Enterprise Community Loan Fund has invested more than $1.7 billion across the country since 1990. Working with mission-focused partners, we align our investments alongside Enterprise’s other financing capabilities and local expertise. The Loan Fund brings a suite of financing, policy and programmatic solutions to bear when addressing complex problems. By joining these critical drivers, we deliver greater opportunity to the communities that need it most.
Well-designed affordable homes make up the foundation of our investment approach. We connect those homes to community assets that expand resident opportunity. ECLF also leverages financial, technical and policy resources from across all of Enterprise’s leading entities. That means we bring specialized expertise and innovative financing structures to support our borrowers’ community development goals.
