CPC, ENPHRONT Veteran Services and Inner City Development celebrate grand opening at row housing project: Jackson Ave. Veteran Complex

The Community Preservation Corp. (CPC), ENPHRONT Veteran Services and Inner City Development were joined by city and state housing officials and new residents to celebrate the grand opening of The Jackson Ave. Veteran Complex, seven newly-constructed, three-family row houses with a total of 21 units, which will house formerly homeless veterans in the Mott Haven neighborhood. An average of three-four vets will reside in each unit. "We are so proud to stand here today and help give back to those who have given so much for this country," said Michael Lappin, president and CEO of CPC.  "These heroic veterans deserve a wonderful place to call home and the opportunity to start afresh-the Jackson Ave. Veteran Complex will allow them to do just that." "This is a great project to celebrate today-the creation of new affordable housing for homeless veterans," said Priscilla Almodovar, president and CEO of the State of New York Mortgage Insurance Agency. "This project is a wonderful example of how the public and private sectors can work together to build housing for our homeless veterans.  With the State's 'AA1' Mortgage Insurance Fund insuring the mortgage, CPC was able to fund this project and then sell the loan to the New York City Pension Fund, which in turn created new capital that CPC can lend to create still more affordable housing." CPC provided permanent financing of $4 million which will be sold to the New York City Pension Funds including The New York City Employees' Retirement System, The New York City Police Pension Fund, and The Teachers' Retirement System of the City of New York. The pension funds have participated in hundreds of deals with CPC over the past 30 years. The State of New York Mortgage Agency (SONYMA) has provided mortgage insurance for all of these loans, which is critical to the New York City Pension Fund Program. "I am happy to announce our support for this extraordinary project, which will provide crucial, quality housing for homeless veterans," said New York City comptroller William Thompson, Jr. "Our nation's veterans have made many sacrifices on behalf of our country, and we are honored to respect their service in this way. The pension funds' $4 million investment in this Veterans' Complex is part of our Economically Targeted Investment Program and it epitomizes our deep commitment to investing in affordable housing in New York City." The developers, Inner City Development, worked with the VA and ENPHRONT Veteran Services, a leading housing and social service organization for homeless veterans and their families, to construct the seven three-family buildings containing two and three-bedroom units. "By working firsthand with the homeless veteran population, we know all too well the struggles and hardships these men and women face," said James Barrett, Coordinator, Housing for Homeless Veterans Program, New York Harbor Department of Veterans Affairs. "The Jackson Avenue Veteran Complex is a first-rate affordable housing facility that provides not only a roof over their heads, but an opportunity for a second-chance.  Sometimes that is all a person needs." "While we have been involved in countless projects throughout our 20-year career in the real estate industry, few will be remembered quite as fondly as the one we stand in front of today," said Louis Foundos, Inner City Development.  "We thank CPC, the VA, ENPHRONT Veteran Services and all our other partners in helping make this project a reality and we hope it brings years of happiness and new memories to the hard working veterans who now call it home." In addition to the housing, residents will be provided with a variety of social and educational services including job training and placement courses, HRA and legal assistance, educational assistance and referral program with La Guardia and Bronx Community College, financial responsibility and budgeting programs, individual counseling with caseworkers as well as access to a wellness center and computer resources room.  Each building also has communal space where services will be administered. "We are very happy to be here to celebrate the opening of this much needed, new Veterans housing facility," said Luis Guevara, Executive Director, ENPHRONT Veteran Services. "We are committed to providing not only the safe, affordable housing our residents deserve but the educational, employment, medical and social services they need in order to get back on the path to independent living.  We thank CPC, the VA and all our other partners for their hard work and dedication." The Department of Veterans Affairs referred all of the veterans to ENPHRONT and Inner City Development and will provide case management for each veteran in residence. The Community Preservation Corporation is a not-for-profit mortgage lender that finances residential multifamily development throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Since its founding in 1974, CPC has invested more than $7 billion nearly 130,000 units of housing. SONYMA's Mortgage Insurance Fund was created in 1979 to provide insurance on multifamily mortgage loans for affordable housing made by commercial and public lenders and mortgage pool and primary insurance for single family mortgages purchased by SONYMA. ENPHRONT Veteran Services is a not-for-profit charity that has been providing housing advocacy to those less fortunate since 2001.  In 2007, they began to refer homeless US Veterans to apartments and single family residences and link them to life services within their communities.  During this time they observed there was a need for transitional housing and services for the Veteran population that is chronically homeless, so they created the Jackson Avenue Veterans Complex as a pilot program to see if their model would be successful and create the graduation results they expected of the Veterans.  ENPHRONT believes there is a formula in this economy that allows for profit housing and not-for-profit services to partner while producing the best results for Veterans.