New Partners in Development

We continually seek new ways to extend our work and its impact. We have broadened our geographic base and expanded the types of projects we finance. And now we are enlarging the core of our borrower pool.

Our mission is to help build healthy communities. There are many groups dedicated to this goal that are not candidates for traditional financing - among them, some for-profit developers. Consequently, we are now including these developers among our pool of borrowers.

These borrowers typically fit one of three profiles:

• For-profit developers in partnership with nonprofit organizations.
• For-profit developers building affordable housing that would not otherwise be created or preserved.
• Small family contractors and property owners who historically have had difficulty getting financing and whose lower costs often enable them to refurbish and maintain affordable housing without subsidies.

Above all, we look for businesses that value a double bottom line of financially viable and socially responsible. New Atlantic Development Corporation is a case in point. An experienced and sophisticated for-profit developer, they are collaborating with established non-profit organizations on two large, complicated housing projects: Uphams Corner Marketplace, a mixed-use development combining affordable rental housing and commercial space in a long abandoned market; and Ruggles Assisted Living Facility, the first inner city, low-income, assisted living facility in Massachusetts. Both meet critical community needs.

Beth Babcock, Executive Director of Committee to End Elder Homelessness, observes, "The need is so real, we had 63 people lined up to move in to 25 Ruggles as soon as the waiting list was formed. Our partnership with New Atlantic allowed us to do what we do best: plan and deliver first rate services to these elders; meanwhile, we know the complicated financing, development and construction issues are being taken care of."

Over the past three years, Boston Community Loan Fund has made a half dozen loans to for-profit developers - and the experience has been gratifying. They have created or preserved over 100 units of housing that would otherwise not exist. They have maintained the same high standards as our non-profit borrowers. And they have established very positive relationships with the communities in which they work and with us.