$719M Funds Affordable Creation, Preservation

NEW YORK CITY-The boards of the New York State Housing Finance Agency and the New York State Affordable Housing Corp. have approved nearly $719 million in financing to create and preserve 1,802 units of affordable housing in New York City. A source close to the agency tells GlobeSt.com that the financing will go towards housing in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx. “Together, they will protect existing affordable housing and create new affordable housing–both homeownership and rental–for thousands of New Yorkers. That in turn will strengthen neighborhoods and help grow the economy throughout the city.”

The source explains that the financing comes from three sources. “The major source is tax-exempt bonds. We sell bonds and use the proceeds to give mortgages to developers to build new housing and preserve existing housing. In some cases, we also provide secondary mortgages to developers from our own internal resources. And the third source is appropriations made by the Legislature and the Governor in the state budget. These appropriations go to AHC, which gives grants to developers to subsidize new construction.” The source further notes that each recipient–whether it is a developer or nonprofit organization—”comes to us with a request for financing, which they determine based on the size and nature of their project and the resources they have put together from other sources.”

Among the projects receiving financing are the first three multifamily 80/20 rental projects to be approved under HFA’s new 2008 allocation criteria for private activity tax-exempt bond financing, also known as “volume cap.” These multifamily developments must agree to set aside 20% of the units for low-income tenants and also satisfy several other criteria, including construction and finance readiness, compliance with New York City planning goals and commitment to energy efficiency.