Atlanta's Betmar Village Senior Housing is Historical First in the State

Ground breaking Ceremony: Left to right- Laurel Hart, Georgia DCA, HUD Director, Atlanta Multifamily Hub Office of Multifamily Housing, Ruben Brooks, Georgia DCA Commissioner Shelby, Ernestine Garey of InvestAtlanta, Councilmember Sheperd and Sarah-Elizabeth Langford of National Church Residences. Photo by Nancy Jo McDaniel.

Recently a significant ground breaking ceremony was held at the new mixed financed project, Betmar Village Senior Housing, located in Atlanta, GA. The project is particularly noteworthy as it represents the first combination of Section 202 Capital Advance funding with Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) in the State of Georgia, and one of only a few in the entire country. The sponsor of the project is National Church Residences (http://nationalchurchresidences.org/), one of the Country's leading sponsors of affordable housing for seniors. With the additional funding provided by the low income housing tax credits, the number of housing units will be increased from the 36 provided by the HUD Capital Advance of $3,906,300 to 48. In addition, the tax credits will allow for amenities not typical of a traditional Section 202 property, such as an increase in the size of the individual units. These amenities will be paid for by the equity furnished through the tax credit program.

"The Betmar Village Senior Residential Community is shining example of how HUD's mission to create strong, sustainable, inclusive and quality housing for all can become a reality and more importantly how non-profits and various public agencies can work together to produce much needed quality affordable housing that serves a deserving population," said Ruben Brooks, Director, Atlanta Multifamily Hub Office of Multifamily Housing. "HUD is very proud to be a partner in the Betmar Village project as it represents the first combination of Section 202 Capital Advance funding with Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTCs) in the state of Georgia, and one of only a few in the country. We salute all of the partners involved and look forward to making Betmar Village a monumental success and model to be replicated in the near future."

Located just below downtown Atlanta in an area that has been revitalized because of the location in the Empowerment Zone, it is characterized by a wide variety of multifamily and single family developments. Nestled up to two longtime Atlanta neighborhoods, Betmar and Joyland, it is a much loved part of the Atlanta community. With 7 layers of financing, it represents the combined resources of the City of Atlanta (www.atlantaga.gov/), the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (www.dca.state.ga.us/), the Fulton County Land Bank (www.fccalandbank.org/), Invest Atlanta (www.investatlanta.com/): Atlanta's Development Authority and HOME money provided through the City of Atlanta led by the HUD Section 202 program at its center. The property represents the concerted efforts and leadership of the Atlanta Regional Office of HUD many of whom were in attendance at the groundbreaking: HUD SE Regional Administrator Ed Jennings, Jr. and HUD Multifamily Housing HUB Director Ruben Brooks, along with HUD staff Marcia Ringo, Linda Preston, Donna Edmunds, Jeff Fleming and Sam Lytle, each of whom worked on the project representing their various disciplines.

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