Posted on April 23, 2019
BOSTON --- Using its ability to provide low-interest financing to help owners keep their apartments affordable, the Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP) has committed a $2.3 million, 40-year loan to the Allston-Brighton Community Development Corporation (ABCDC) for the refinancing of Ray Dooley Apartments, a 59-unit affordable housing complex in Allston.
MHP is providing this loan commitment through the 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. Through this program, ABCDC will be refinancing a 20-year loan with a 40-year loan at an interest rate of 4.75 percent.
The MHP loan will close after the anticipated conversion of 34 Dooley apartments from an annual Section 8 contract with the Boston Housing Authority to a long-term project-based rental assistance agreement through the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Rental Assistance Demonstration Program (HUD RAD). This conversion will stabilize rents and allow ABCDC to operate the property more predictably and efficiently.
Dooley Apartments – formerly Long Glen Apartments – is located in an Allston neighborhood where rents are high due in part to the demand for housing by college students living off campus.
“MHP’s help and innovation contributed to the success of the project in 2007 and helped ABCDC to create deeply affordable rental housing in an area where rents have continued to escalate," said John Woods, ABCDC's executive director. "The Allston Brighton CDC is pleased to be able to work with MHP again to preserve and enhance the financial stability of this important development.”
Built in the 1920s, Dooley Apartments consists of three adjacent four-story walk-up brick buildings featuring 10 studio, 14 one-, nine two- and one three-bedroom affordable apartments. It is named after Ray Dooley, the former longtime budget director for Mayor Ray Flynn, who died of pacreatic cancer in 2006 at age 54. Dooley was also a founding board member of the Allston-Brighton Community Development Corporation (ABCDC).
This marks the fifth time MHP has used its capital sources to finance ABCDC’s mission of providing affordable housing for the neighborhoods most vulnerable residents. Previous MHP loans to ABCDC include Hano Homes (12 apartments), Brian Honan Apartments (50 apartments), Brighton-Allston Apartments (60 apartments) and the original $2.3 million Ray Dooley loan in 2007. All told, MHP has provided ABCDC with over $4.7 million in permanent financing for affordable housing in Brighton and Allston.
"The Allston Brighton CDC is pleased to be able to work with MHP to preserve and enhance the financial stability of this important development.”
MHP provides long-term loans for affordable rental housing through three capital sources - FHA, Fannie Mae and its bank-funded loan pool. Since 1990, it's provided over $1.4 billion for the financing of more than 26,000 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.