The Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership (ANDP) works to expand the city’s supply of affordable housing and revitalize disinvested neighborhoods. It has supported construction of more than 11,000 homes for people with low-to-moderate incomes, offering down payment assistance to buyers and helping them make connections to other housing support programs that make homeownership affordable.

The $4.1 million project is building 18 townhomes on Atlanta’s west side—an area with a rich history of civil rights activism, as well as disinvestment and unemployment. Fewer than 500 homes on the west side are owner occupied. The new townhomes will be affordable to families earning 120 percent of the area median income (AMI) and less—with six homes set aside for those earning less than 80 percent of AMI.

Broadstreet committed $4.0 million from LISC’s New Market Tax Credit allocation to support the project, with US Bank as the investor. The transaction is unique in that it will support both development costs and down payment assistance, which helps families with limited resources buy a home and begin to build wealth. Because capital will be recycled as the homes are built and sold, ANDP estimates that the NMTC financing will support development of an additional seven homes during the seven-year NMTC credit compliance period.

None of the 13 counties that comprise the Atlanta metro area are qualified as affordable housing markets and, over the past decade, median house prices in the city have doubled—while incomes have risen just 1.7 percent. At the same time, there is a clear disparity in homeownership rates for people of color, as well as in access to capital.

NMTC financing allows ANDP to specifically respond to those challenges, decreasing the sale price for the homes and connecting buyers to down payment assistance, which is particularly important for buyers with below-average credit scores who may face larger down payment requirements. Buyers will be able to accumulate wealth through equity and appreciation, enjoy tax advantages, protect against displacement, and contribute to the stability of the surrounding community.