With a decades-old mission to provide affordable housing to low-income families, nonprofit Jubilee Housing in Adams Morgan is utilizing a relatively new form of tax credits to bring together corporate and public interests.
“Community investment tied in with nonprofits can make a change,” said Dorothy Larimer, director of property management for Jubilee Housing.
The organization broke ground Tuesday on Ontario Court, one of seven Jubilee properties undergoing renovation. The 29,700-square-foot, 27-unit apartment building will be practically gutted, according to Kathy J. Guillaume, director of development for Jubilee Housing.
The whole project is a welcome change for nearby neighbors.
“Some people put a stigma to affordable housing,” Guillaume said. But when people came in and saw the new apartments, the “community was receptive,” and the buildings “improved the image of the whole area.”
The 85-year-old Ontario Court building is particularly unusual because unlike the others, it utilizes New Market Tax Credits, a program in which private companies that invest in the project get a tax deduction. This type of credit requires that part of the money be used for nonresidential space, such as a school, for low-income communities. The basement of the building will be turned into a 4,000-square-foot, extended-hours child care center run by Jubilee JumpStart, which will have 46 spots for children, including residents and children from other low-income families.
Currently, residents pay $369 for a one-bedroom apartment, $424 for a two-bedroom apartment and $501 for a three-bedroom unit.
Financial support for the $9.7 million project is provided by PNC Bank, which gave a $2.9 million loan, PNC New Markets Investment Partners, which fronted $2.8 million in equity, and D.C.’s Department of Housing and Community Development, which provided a $3.4 million loan. About $600,000 came from other sources.
Columbia-based Enterprise Community Partners is facilitating the loan at low-market interest rates, its first NMTC project in the metro area, according to local office director David Bowers.
PNC Bank will get a 39 percent tax credit on $9.4 million over seven years. Ontario Courts is the first project for the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development, said spokeswoman Najuma Thorpe, and the department hopes to use it as a model for future investments.
