Commercial/Multifamily News Briefs October 6, 2022
Merchants Capital Opens Regional Office in Boston
Merchants Capital opened its sixth regional office location in Boston. After two years of record-breaking success, which included $7 billion in debt financing closed and over $248 million in tax credit equity raised in 2021, the expansion of Merchants into Boston doubles down on the firm’s commitment to growth, particularly in the affordable housing and tax credit equity space.
Located in the Prudential Center in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, the new office will expand to 20 full-time employees, with a primary focus on the firm’s tax credit equity syndication division.
“Since our equity platform launched in late 2020, we’ve made key investments in talent in the Boston market and established our platform as an emerging national leader in tax credit syndications with over $335 million in equity raised in 18 months,” said Julie Sharp, Executive Vice President at Merchants Capital. “The success we’ve enjoyed in our equity division is a complement to our robust and nationally-ranked debt platform and has positioned us as a leading full-service financing provider for affordable housing.”
Merchants Capital continues to seek driven employees for a variety of positions at all six offices: Boston, Chicago, Indianapolis, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, New York and Washington, D.C.
HUD Announces Section 202 Project Rental Assistance Renewal Contract Term Increases
HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing Programs announced its intent to begin issuing Section 202 Project Rental Assistance Contracts with renewal terms of up to five years rather than the one-year terms that have previously been authorized. This administrative streamlining will reduce contract renewal and other administrative work for both owners of properties participating in the Section 202 Supportive Housing for Low-Income Elderly program and HUD.
“Our aim is to help housing providers focus more on providing affordable homes and supportive services to residents and less on administrative efforts to maintain funding streams,” said HUD Office of Multifamily Housing Deputy Assistant Secretary Ethan Handelman. “We are pleased that Congressional action has allowed us to streamline this important program.”
Execution of the new five-year contracts will be phased in as contracts become due for renewal over a three-year period between 2023 and 2025.
Section 202 grants provide very low-income elderly persons 62 years of age or older with the opportunity to live independently in an environment that provides support services, such as nutritional, transportation, continuing education, and/or health-related services, to meet their unique needs. Section 202 program eligibility requires residents to be very low-income or earning less than 50 percent of the area median income
