NEW YORK, N.Y. – As Mayor Bill de Blasio continues to ramp up production and preservation efforts under his historic affordable housing plan, one of the principal financial engines behind the plan is rising to that challenge as the nation’s premier municipal entity in the multifamily bond market.
The New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC) is working closely with The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to implement Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Housing New York: A Five-Borough, 10-Year Housing Plan. The plan aims to create and preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing in ten years. The most comprehensive affordable housing plan in the City’s history and largest municipal housing plan in the nation, its goal is to help address New York City’s affordability crisis by reaching more than half a million New Yorkers ranging from those with very low incomes to those in the middle class, all of whom face ever-rising rents.
Based on its contributions to the plan in 2014, HDC posted another record-breaking year; ranking first for the third consecutive time on Thomson Reuters’ annual list of multi-family bond issuers. From January through December 2014, the Corporation issued $1.93 billion in bonds and financed the construction or preservation of 44 affordable housing developments comprising 8,152 apartments.
According to the Thomson Reuters Issuer Rankings, HDC is first in the nation among all multifamily municipal housing bond issuers for the year. HDC again achieved this distinction despite issuing bonds for only one city, compared to the State-wide jurisdictions of the other ranked agencies. While this is its third consecutive year at the top, 2014 was particularly successful for The Corporation. HDC was the runaway leader with its annual bond issuance comprising almost a third of the multifamily market (excluding private placements).
In addition to its bond issuance for the year, 2014 also saw HDC contribute more than $117 million of its corporate subsidies and leverage approximately $700 million in investor equity generated through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program. Collectively, this combination of dedicating public resources and leveraging private investment enabled The Corporation to achieve its strong 2014 results.
That collaboration with private industry partners has been crucial, and one of the largest was quick to congratulate HDC on its continuing achievement. “HDC was able to achieve great success with a broad range of investors and structures in 2014, as the municipal market’s largest multi-family issuer,” said Paul Palmeri, Head of Public Finance at JPMorgan Chase. “We are proud to be HDC’s partner in meeting New York City’s affordable housing goals.”
“Through his historic ten year plan, Mayor Bill de Blasio has laid out a vision for a New York City that is affordable to all,” said HDC President Gary Rodney. “The financing strategies which resulted in our top national ranking are most significant because they enabled HDC to help launch this visionary plan with a phenomenally successful first year. I thank the Members of HDC’s Board of Directors, including our Chair and HPD Commissioner Vicki Been, for their diligent governance and I acknowledge our staff and many partners for their dedicated efforts. Under the leadership of The Mayor and Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, I’m pleased to pledge HDC’s continued commitment to financing innovations and strategies that will support the housing plan.”
“I congratulate HDC President Gary Rodney and his talented staff on a tremendous year that led to HDC being recognized as the top issuer in the national bond rankings for 2014”, said HDC Chair and HPD Commissioner Vicki Been. “While the ranking is based on impressive numbers, it is the HDC team’s amazing productivity, strategic thinking and creativity that makes up the numbers. Housing New York is off to a great start, and we are lucky indeed to have HDC as our partner as we continue to work towards the mayor's ambitious plan to finance the construction or preservation of 200,000 affordable homes. So in addition to my congratulations on a stellar past year, I also want to thank HDC in advance for their continued hard work and achievement in the many years ahead.”
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About the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC):
HDC is the nation’s largest municipal Housing Finance Agency and is charged with helping to finance the creation or preservation of affordable housing under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Housing New York plan. Since 2003, HDC has financed more than 120,000 housing units using over $13.7 billion in bonds, and provided in excess of $1.6 billion in subsidy from corporate reserves. HDC has been the #1 issuer in the nation of mortgage revenue bonds for affordable multi-family housing in each of the last three years. In Affordable Housing Finance Magazine’s most recently published annual listing of the nation’s top ten funders of multi-family housing, HDC is the only municipal entity on the list. HDC is also the third largest affordable housing lender in the U.S. after Citi and Wells Fargo, ranking ahead of such industry leaders as Bank of America and Capital One. For additional information, visit: www.nychdc.com.
