Smith NMTC Announces Closing of $7M NMTC SLDC Loan to Support Habitat for Humanity St. Louis
The Smith NMTC Associates team is excited to announce the closing of a $7 million SLDC New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) supported loan to Habitat for Humanity St. Louis (Habitat St. Louis) in partnership with St. Louis Development Corporation through its Housing Access and Neighborhood Stabilization Revolving Loan Fund, and an investment from U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation.
This closing marks the seventh transaction Smith has completed in partnership with Habitat St. Louis for a total of $26.8 million of loans in support of 132 homes across the region.
ABOUT HABITAT FOR HUMANITY ST. LOUIS
Founded in 1986 as a Missouri nonprofit corporation and 501(c)(3) organization, Habitat St. Louis has built and rehabbed over 400 affordable homes for more than 1,700 people who are low income. As one of the leading housing developers in St. Louis, Habitat believes in a world where everyone has access to safe, high-quality, and affordable housing.
With a regional and national dedication to eliminating substandard housing, Habitat St. Louis operates on a strong foundation of fiscal responsibility, organizational efficiency, and progressive nonprofit management. The organization also provides ongoing support to their partner families through homebuyer education, homeowner counseling, and down payment assistance.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
With the $7 million NMTC-supported loan, Habitat St. Louis plans to build 19 homes in three neighborhoods in St. Louis. Several will be built in collaboration with other local organizations that share similar missions, including Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, St. Louis Art Place Initiative, and Dream Builders 4 Equity.
Old North
The Old North project will center around the southernmost section of the Old North St. Louis neighborhood, which is currently defined by vacant and overgrown city-owned land, deteriorating infrastructure, and substandard housing.
- Poverty rate: 48.40%
- AMI: 26.38%
- Unemployment rate: 17.50%, 2.11x the national average
Gravois Park
Other homes will be developed in collaboration with the St. Louis Art Place Initiative Phase II to increase affordable housing in a strategically-identified section of Gravois Park. The plan will include new construction along Nebraska Avenue, a residential street—home to the highly-regarded Froebel Elementary School. Other vacant homes on adjacent blocks will be preserved through rehabilitation in keeping with neighborhood aesthetics and community preferences.
- Poverty rate: 45.50%
- AMI: 44.99%
- Unemployment rate: 12.40%, 1.49x the national average
Hyde Park
Lastly, in collaboration with Dream Builders 4 Equity, Habitat St. Louis will focus on the Hyde Park neighborhood. The Dream Builders organization employs minority contractors and youth to renovate and repair vacant homes, teaching valuable skills to local youth while revitalizing historically disinvested neighborhoods. In addition to learning skills to help them succeed academically and professionally, the youth are paid for their work and also benefit from scholarship funds created with home sale proceeds.
- Poverty rate: 46.50%
- AMI: 37.62%
- Unemployment rate: 21.90%, or 2.64x the national average
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About Habitat for Humanity International and Smith NMTC
In addition to work with Habitat St. Louis, Smith NMTC Associates has worked with Habitat for Humanity International and numerous Habitat for Humanity affiliates throughout the U.S.
In 2008, the Smith team pioneered the groundbreaking NMTC for-sale housing and multi-QALICB model, resulting in $25 million to be deployed in the GOZone—the Gulf Opportunity Zone (the areas hit hardest by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita).
To learn more about Habitat St. Louis and this upcoming project, you can click here.