Fannie Mae Withdrawal from Tax Credit Investment Does Not Include New Orleans

Fannie Mae is honoring the commitments it made in 2006 and 2007 to invest tax credit equity in New Orleans, and will continue to be a major player in the rebuilding effort, says Ken Bacon, Fannie Mae’s executive vice president of housing and community development.

Although Fannie Mae is not actively making new tax credit commitments outside of the Gulf Coast at this time, the company and its housing partners are very committed to New Orleans. The purpose of Fannie Mae’s extraordinary investment there is to boost rebuilding where recovery has been sorely lacking since hurricanes and floods ravaged the city in 2005.

In April 2008, Fannie Mae announced an imminent investment of $48.8 million in housing throughout New Orleans. The current allocation of funds adds to the approximately $1 billion that Fannie Mae has invested in the city since 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck.

Specifically, Fannie Mae is putting $3.3 million into Louisiana Freedmen Homes, which is located in Carollton and Uptown neighborhoods. The site is New Orleans’ first tax credit housing project to be completed since Hurricane Katrina. Fannie Mae is the only investor.

Fannie Mae is also investing in a tax credit site called Esplanade at City Park, allocating $14.8 million toward the 441-unit development.

Fannie Mae is providing $13.3 million in tax credit equity to rebuild an existing investment destroyed by Hurricane Katrina: Filmore Parc I&II in the Gentilly neighborhood. When completed, the project will restore 164 units of affordable rental housing to the city. Finally, a $4.5 million LIHTC investment will support the renovation of three separate sites for “seniors” totaling 400 units throughout the city.

In addition to tax credit equity, Fannie Mae is providing debt financing to support affordable housing in New Orleans. The company agreed to provide $600,000 in debt financing for a 36-unit site located in the Bywater neighborhood. And Fannie Mae is putting another $18.6 million in financing into Rising Sun Apartments, a 122-unit site located in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward district that, when completed, will be offering condominium and rental units.

Source: Ken Bacon, executive vice president, Housing and Community Development Division, Fannie Mae