Residents of communities in five states will have more opportunities to become homeowners with the help of New Markets Tax Credits from Housing Partnership Network (HPN).

On September 29th, HPN deployed $34 million in New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs) to four HPN Members developing single-family for-sale housing in Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Texas, and Virginia. Receiving NMTC-funded loans to support the construction or rehabilitation of new homes are:

• Better Housing Coalition’s affiliate Richmond Affordable Housing,
• Community Asset Preservation Corporation, a wholly owned real estate development subsidiary of New Jersey Community Capital,
• Housing Channel, and
• Planning Office for Urban Affairs, an affordable housing developer affiliated with the Archdiocese of Boston, developing under the legal entity 22 Elm Street LLC.

American Express NMTC Homeownership 2025 Fund, LLC was the NMTC investor with support from U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance. Smith NMTC Associates, LLC facilitated the closing to maximize the project’s community benefits, provided the recapture risk guaranty, and will work closely with each developer on compliance and impact reporting over the 7-year compliance period. As part of Smith NMTC’s standard model to increase efficiencies, all these projects were combined in one closing to share transaction costs and preserve the net benefit for community impacts.

New Markets Tax Credit-funded loans or “QLICIs” help nonprofit housing developers like these HPN Members overcome capital shortfalls, increase development capacity, add home features like garages, and cover market and affordability gaps.

Intentional Community Planning in Richmond

With an $8.73 million NMTC-funded loan (QLICI), Better Housing Coalition plans continue their work in Highland Grove, a transformative 125-home mixed-income community in Richmond, Virginia, by building 20 new single-family homes through its development arm, Richmond Affordable Housing. As the second phase of a broader HOPE VI redevelopment initiative shaped by residents, community stakeholders and city leaders, the project is reconnecting historic neighborhoods with new streets, sidewalks and pedestrian pathways, while creating a vibrant mixed-income community adjacent to the newly renovated Overby-Sheppard Elementary School. By enabling more homes to be sold to income-qualified buyers, the NMTC investment will help ensure that longtime residents can share in the neighborhood’s revitalization and the wealth-building benefits of homeownership.

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Neighborhood Revitalization in FL & NJ, One Home at a Time

Community Asset Preservation Corporation (CAPC) will use a $9.7 million QLICI to transform vacant and abandoned properties into quality affordable homes across some of the most distressed neighborhoods in New Jersey and Florida. Through its innovative scattered-site redevelopment model, CAPC will develop 29 homes in communities across New Jersey, including Atlantic City, Newark and Trenton, and Florida, in Orlando and Ocala. By restoring long-neglected properties and building on vacant lots, the project will help stabilize communities facing high poverty, rising housing costs, absentee ownership, and deteriorating housing stock. CAPC also connects prospective homebuyers with down payment assistance, affordable mortgage products, and financial counseling and education. Together, these efforts will expand access to sustainable homeownership, support working families, and drive lasting community revitalization in neighborhoods that have experienced decades of disinvestment.

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Preserving Affordability & Creative Land Reuse in Fort Worth

Housing Channel is transforming a 15-acre former seminary student housing site in Fort Worth, Texas into Carroll Park, a 100+ unit development of for-sale homes to be sold to low- and moderate-income buyers with household incomes between 60% and 100% AMI. With its $5.8 million QLICI from HPN, Housing Channel will launch Phase I of Carroll Park by developing the first 36 homes through new construction and the rehab of previous rental housing for seminary students. Developed in partnership with the Fort Worth Community Land Trust, Carroll Park will address the growing gap between home prices and working-family incomes by providing one- to three-bedroom homes starting at $135,000. Through the community land trust model, Carroll Park will preserve long-term affordability while expanding homeownership opportunities for households earning as little as 60% of area median income. Combined with Housing Channel’s comprehensive homebuyer counseling and support services, the project will foster neighborhood revitalization and help more families access the long-term economic stability and wealth-building benefits of homeownership.

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Old is Made New Again in Worcester

With an $8.73 million QLICI, Planning Office for Urban Affairs is transforming a long-vacant office building in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts into Chestnut Place, a first-of-its-kind affordable homeownership development in the city center in more than three decades. The project will create 22 affordable condominium units, all reserved for income-qualified homebuyers earning up to 80% of area median income. There will also be 198 market-rate rental units constructed alongside the homeownership project to help create a sustainable mixed-income neighborhood. Located in a deeply distressed census tract, the office-to-residential conversion will breathe new life into an underutilized property, expand access to affordable homeownership near jobs, transit, schools, and community amenities, and help address Worcester’s severe housing shortage. Featuring high-quality residential design, shared workspaces, a fitness center and other resident amenities, Chestnut Place will provide a rare opportunity for working families to build long-term economic stability through homeownership while serving as a catalyst for continued investment in downtown Worcester.

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Housing for All

The Housing Partnership Network – an award-winning business collaborative of 123 of the nation’s leading housing and community development organizations – utilizes the NMTC program to provide development subsidy to its member organizations who are building and rehabbing diverse housing for sale in areas of economic distress. As an extension of its work as a nonprofit CDFI, HPN facilitates peer-to-peer learning and promotes policy and practice that is based on the proven experience of some of the nation’s most successful nonprofit organizations.

Smith NMTC Associates, LLC has partnered with Housing Partnership Network since 2014 to build their NMTC lending program. Since then, HPN has been awarded a total of $295M in NMTC allocation since receiving its first award from the 2015/2016 application round and has deployed $259M to-date to develop 1,173 homes in low-income communities across 14 states. Learn more about Smith NMTC’s services for Community Development Entities and nonprofit developers…