National Equity Fund, Inc. (NEF), Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) and Morgan Stanley announced the launch of the $100 million Greater Atlanta Transit Oriented Affordable Housing Preservation Fund. The Fund will provide financing to multi-family property owners to help low-income families and individuals stay in their homes, and not be displaced as rents increase in transit-rich neighborhoods throughout the Greater Atlanta metropolitan area.
“We are proud to support the partnership between NEF and Morgan Stanley in the formation of this fund that will protect and preserve affordable housing within a mile radius of MARTA’s heavy rail stations,” said MARTA General Manager and CEO Jeffrey Parker. “The ground-up development of new affordable units takes time, and we wanted to do more in the short term to help. Supporting this effort to preserve affordable units right now makes sense.”
The Fund will provide acquisition capital for multi-family affordable housing developments near or beyond the end of their initial tax credit compliance period; affordable housing properties that operate under the HUD Section 8 or other federal programs; as well as projects with no current rent restrictions that will become restricted upon acquisition. The Fund will provide high-LTV non-recourse first mortgage debt to finance the acquisition or repositioning of projects in targeted MARTA transit-oriented districts.
