You may have seen the recent articles in The Wall Street Journal and Affordable Housing Finance about our transaction with Wells Fargo, KeyBank and Bridge Investment Group – where we provided attractive terms in exchange for ongoing affordable rents. This is part of our new Social Impact pilot, which uses our existing offerings in innovative ways to create and preserve affordable rental housing.
More and more we’re seeing rents raised to justify returns, leaving many residents priced out of their homes. To address this issue, we’re starting to see Borrowers looking for creative options which rely less on government programs and more on private capital to tackle the workforce housing crisis. And we’re here to support those efforts.
Although maintaining rents below market value may lower returns, many borrowers find that the higher occupancy and lower renter turn-over equates to good risk-adjusted returns, while contributing to the crucial need for workforce housing. This is often referred to as “the double bottom line,” allowing borrowers to do good while doing well.
We used our Multi-Asset Commitment structure to enter into a master agreement with Bridge Investment Group. Bridge will transact up to $500 million of CME loans over a one-year period and will provide an ongoing commitment to keep the majority of rents affordable to those making less than 80% AMI. An interesting component of this deal is that we will aggregate the social impact loans and place them into a single security where Bridge will purchase the subordinate bonds. This provides the unique opportunity to address workforce housing from an investment aspect as well.
Since this was our first transaction, we expect to learn and fine-tune moving forward. As our initial efforts gain traction, we will market our offerings for social impact more widely.
To provide some context as you consider this option for your Borrowers, here are some key points to keep in mind:
The structure used in this deal is our Multi-Asset Commitment, where Freddie Mac agreed to purchase $500 million of CME loans over a one-year period.
If you’d like to find out more – and determine if this is right for your borrower, please send me a note. I’d be happy to talk to you.
Have a comment or question? Email us to let us know what's on your mind.
Insights and perspectives from Freddie Mac staff on current topics and events related to housing and the Multifamily industry.
Lauren Garren
VP Production & Sales
Lauren is vice president of production & sales for Freddie Mac Multifamily. She leads two distinct production & sales groups: (1) the Structured Transaction Group works with Seller/Servicers and their Borrowers nationwide to develop creative and unique structures to meet borrowers’ evolving needs; and (2) Production Operations, which includes division-wide process improvements and internal and external performance goals. Lauren joined Freddie Mac in 2004 with prior experience in consulting.
There's a lot in the news today about Social Investing - investments that make a social or environmental impact while also generating a financial return. It' a true win-win, and at Freddie Mac Multifamily, we're happy to be at the forefront of this important movement.
How can we help solve the affordable rental housing crisis? This question is on our minds every day at Freddie Mac Multifamily.
Woodland Park in East Palo Alto, California, is located right in the middle of Silicon Valley, one of the most expensive areas in the country to live. It's home to Facebook, Google, NASA's Ames Research Center and other giant enterprises.