A workforce housing loan fund for NH/VT has some Maine ties
File photo / Sara Santor
Evernorth, a nonprofit headquartered in Portland and Burlington, Vt., earmarked $54 million for projects in northern New England, including five in Maine.
Evernorth, a nonprofit with dual headquarters in Portland and Burlington, Vt., said it will oversee a workforce housing loan fund for the Upper Connecticut River Valley, which includes parts of New Hampshire and Vermont.
Evernorth provides affordable housing and community investments in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. It has raised and deployed over $1 billion in equity capital for affordable housing and built more than 15,000 affordable homes and apartments for low and moderate income people across northern New England.
In this case, the Upper Valley Loan Fund was created from an investment by eight of the area's employers, which invested $8.95 million to fund development of affordable housing.
The eight employers in the loan fund include Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, the third-largest Maine-based bank, with assets of $3.6 billion and 50 branch offices in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. It is the only Maine-based bank with a presence all three northern New England states.
Other investors were Citizens Bank, Dartmouth College, Dartmouth Health, Hanover Co-op Food Stores, Hypertherm, King Arthur Baking and Mascoma Bank, which has an office in Portland.
The Upper Valley Loan Fund is aimed at developers and housing organizations, with the goal to build affordable apartments. Many would-be renters in the area have been priced out of the market.
The loan fund will build or preserve apartments for people who can afford rents of $1,200 to $1,600 per month.
"By comparison, the current market rate for apartments in Grafton and Windsor counties is between $1,500 to $2,200 per month. So, you can see that by leveraging these employer dollars, we will be able to create considerable savings for the workforce as compared to what the market is producing," said Deb Flannery, vice president of lending at Evernorth.
The region has 420 units of affordable housing reserved for households with incomes below 80% of the area median. By adding 243 affordable units, the Upper Valley Loan Fund will increase the supply of income-targeted units by 58%. Sustained production of income-targeted housing at this level is necessary to alleviate rent burdens on households earning less than 80% of the median income for the region.
“Without workers who have a place to live, the economy as we know it will cease to function effectively,” said Clayton Adams, president and CEO at Mascoma Bank. “I’m very grateful to Evernorth for being such a strong partner in this effort. Their expertise will help employer capital make a difference in addressing our region’s housing crisis.”
Evernorth estimates the funds will be distributed over two to three years in two to four transactions per year.
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