Posted on September 24, 2010
SPRINGFIELD, September 24, 2010 --- State and local officials gathered this morning to celebrate the official opening of the second phase of the Campus of Hope Phase II, a 28-unit, low-income project designed to serve teen mothers, victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse, and their children.
"This project is all about empowering the residents that will come to live here," said Mayor of Springfield, Dominic Sarno. "This facility proves that there are better days ahead for those in need."
The 28-unit development was built as the second phase of an 11-acre YWCA of Greater Springfield campus which already includes a 48-unit battered women's shelter. The new construction includes 20 apartments and eight congregate housing units, all affordable to residents earning below 60 percent of the area median income. The apartments range from studios to two- and three-bedroom units.
"How magical is this?" said YWCA's Executive Director Mary Reardon-Johnson pointing back to the newly constructed building. "This doesn't happen unless there is a community and government coming together to get something done."
MHP provided $320,000 in first mortgage financing to this project as well as a $300,000 Homefunders second mortgage. The HomeFunders mortgage is an MHP subsidy program that utilizes funds from some of Greater Boston's most prestigious charities to help rental housing developers make their units more affordable to lower-income families. Other sources of funding included a mix of state, federal and local funds, including grants, loans and low-income tax credits.
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.