Carter Work Project site bolstered by $9.25 million New Markets Tax Credit loan
Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity (TCHFH) is the host of this year’s Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project, which will take place September 29 through October 4 in Minnesota and result in the construction of 30 homes. Twenty-three of the homes will be funded by New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) loans to TCHFH affiliate Habitat Heights LLC—$6 million from Habitat for Humanity International and $3.25 million from USBCDE LLC; with American Express NMTC Homeownership Fund, LLC serving as the investor. Smith NMTC Associates, LLC facilitated the closing to maximize the project’s impact.
The Carter Work Project is an annual event hosted by Habitat for Humanity International in partnership with a local Habitat Affiliate. It brings together thousands of stakeholders—volunteers, homeowners and community leaders, along with Habitat Humanitarians like country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood who will co-host this year’s event with TCHFH. The 30 homes that will be built over the week are part of a larger multi-year project to redevelop the 112-acre former Hillcrest Golf Course on St. Paul’s East Side—”The Heights” is TCHFH’s largest development ever and will ultimately result in 147 units.
Since 1985, TCHFH has helped more than 1,500 Minnesota families achieve their dream of homeownership. As the only developer in the area focused on building homes for traditional purchase by low-income buyers, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity is delivering on its mission to expand affordable homeownership and advance racial equity in housing. The Twin Cities region suffers from some of the worst racial disparities in homeownership rates in the country with a gap of 36% between white and Black families compared to 25% nationwide. St. Paul’s East Side has a rich immigrant history, and The Heights neighborhood will continue to be a thriving place for citizens of many different ethnicities and backgrounds.
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- “The Heights” is TCHFH’s largest development to date and was the site of HFHI’s annual Carter Work Project in late 2024.
About New Markets Tax Credits
Congress first authorized the NMTC program in 2000 to incentivize private investment in economically distressed communities by providing investors with a federal tax credit. Through the NMTC program, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund), which administers the program jointly with the IRS, allocates federal tax credits through a competitive application process to certified Community Development Entities (CDEs) like Habitat for Humanity International, and other homeownership-focused CDEs and partners of Smith NMTC Associates, LLC: Community Housing Capital and The Housing Partnership Network, Inc.
NMTCs for Affordable Homeownership
In 2008, Smith NMTC Associates, LLC pioneered the first NMTC model for affordable homeownership, in collaboration with U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation and Habitat for Humanity International, to deploy $25 million in NMTC allocation that benefited five nonprofit developers in the Gulf Opportunity Zone after Hurricane Katrina.
As of December 19, 2025, the company has closed:
- Over $925 million in NMTCs transactions, including $760 million for 160 affordable homeownership projects, in collaboration with 24 CDEs and resulting in 6,171 homes in low-income communities across 33 states and Washington, D.C.
Smith NMTC works with mission-driven organizations throughout the country to develop creative financial models and structures for projects that bring affordable homeownership and community facilities and services to low-income communities and their residents. Work with us.