The District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA) has finalized the issuance of $3.4 million in long-term and $3.2 million in short-term tax-exempt bonds for the construction of a 41-unit affordable housing development.
The agency’s investment in the new complex also includes approximately $5.1 million in low-income housing tax credits.
The financing will help the Neighborhood Development Co. construct Bowen Flats in southeast Washington, D.C., and furthers the agency’s investment in affordable housing in the District’s Ward 8 neighborhood. There are eight DCHFA-financed projects in development in the southeast.
“Historically Ward 8 has been a hub for affordable housing,” says Maria K. Day-Marshall, DCHFA interim executive director. “This agency is committed to ensuring that not only affordable housing continues to be available in Ward 8 but that quality housing is accessible for all residents at affordable rates.”
Bowen Flats will provide one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Twenty parking spaces will be provided to residents at no cost.
The project is located less than a mile from the Anacostia Metro station and near the Barry Farm neighborhood. Barry Farm is being redeveloped as part of the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development’s New Communities Initiative, an effort designed to revitalize severely distressed subsidized housing and redevelop neighborhoods into vibrant mixed-income communities.
Through its public finance division, DCHFA issues tax-exempt housing mortgage revenue bonds to lower the developers’ costs of acquiring, constructing, and rehabilitating rental housing. It offers for-profit and nonprofit developers low-cost construction and permanent financing.
