April 10, 2023–OAKLAND, CA
Congratulations to A Community of Friends on the financing closing for Huntington Square, a new construction development in Huntington Park, CA. The project contains 17 studios and 30 one-bedroom units to be rented to homeless senior veterans and general low-income senior households earning 30-60% of AMI.
Huntington Square will provide much needed supportive housing to homeless seniors who are also Veterans along with wrap-around on-site supportive services provided by ACOF and U.S. Veterans Administration. ACOF is a leader in Permanent Supportive Housing in the Los Angeles area having developed more than 50 properties serving homeless households, including serving over two dozen properties as lead service provider. The construction of Huntington Square is being financed in part through the State of California’s Veterans Housing and Homelessness Prevention Program (VHHP). To date, VHHP has now financed over 3,000 Veterans units statewide, including almost 2,500 PSH units for homeless Veterans in nearly 90 projects across the state.
“As a leader in providing Permanent Supportive Housing in the LA area, we are excited to start construction on this critical project for homeless senior veterans in Huntington Park. Thank you to City National Bank for their financial support and to Merritt for partnering with us on another impactful project. We are glad to have like-minded partners to work with in our mission to end homelessness through the provision of quality permanent supportive housing,” said Mee Heh Risdon, Director of Housing, ACOF.
Merritt Community Capital Corporation is proud to provide $17.3 million in tax credit equity capital for this project. Thank you as well to our financing partners at City National Bank, the Los Angeles County Development Authority, the California Housing Finance Agency, and the California Department of Housing and Community Development. The project is expected to complete construction in late 2024.
“City National Bank is deeply committed to strengthening the communities we serve, and it’s been our privilege to support A Community of Friends since 2019,” said Nedda Ismaili, SVP and Team Lead, Commercial Real Estate Banking, at City National. “Everyone deserves to have a safe, stable place to live, and we’re pleased to work alongside Merritt and ACOF to help finance this project that will make affordable housing and support services available to older people and veterans in need.”
Merritt is honored to collaborate on a second project with ACOF and work with a team that is dedicated to fulfilling the mission of investing in affordable housing and in the people to build a stronger California.
Contact David Dologite – Director of Acquisitions to learn about Merritt’s equity solutions for your project.
About Merritt Community Capital Corporation
Merritt Community Capital Corporation is a nonprofit dedicated to our mission to provide equity capital for affordable housing exclusively to California. We do this by partnering with mission-aligned affordable housing developers throughout the state to ensure the most critical communities are developed and maintained for low-income residents. Since 1989, Merritt has created and/or preserved 11,000 affordable homes, through investing over $1.2 billion in 26 separate funds, providing housing for over 29,700 people.