NHT-Enterprise Closes on First Transaction Under High Opportunity Initiative

Fair access to opportunity is key to promoting health and prosperity in our society. Recent studies illustrate that low-income children whose families live in higher-income neighborhoods experience higher college attendance, greater health benefits, larger earning gains as adults and improvements in other indicators of economic mobility. Stable neighborhoods lay the framework for individual and family opportunity and safe, quality, affordable housing is the building block of any stable neighborhood. Thus, a critical component to creating access to opportunity is to create affordable housing in stable and opportunity-rich neighborhoods.

NHT-Enterprise secured a $6 million program related investment (PRI) from the Kresge Foundation to acquire unrestricted housing located in communities with above-average schools. The Kresge PRI will support NHT’s High Opportunity Partner Engagement (HOPE), the objective of which is to acquire unrestricted properties in communities with above-average schools and subsequently introduce low-income kids to these schools by opening up the buildings to vouchers.

In its first HOPE acquisition, NHT-Enterprise partnered with CommonBond Communities to acquire Pine Point Apartments, a 68-unit unrestricted apartment community located in Coon Rapids, MN. Based in St. Paul, MN, CommonBond is the largest nonprofit affordable housing provider in the Midwest, owning and managing more than 6,000 units.

CommonBond and NHT-Enterprise will work with the Metro Housing Redevelopment Authority (Metro HRA), the housing voucher administrator for much of suburban Minneapolis-St. Paul, to proactively introduce vouchers for 20 percent or more of the units upon turnover.

The $6.8 million project includes a $1 million renovation with a focus on unit and common area enhancements.

Pine Point Apartments is served by Hoover Elementary School, a high-performing school. Hoover Elementary is rated eight (8) by GreatSchools and low-income students’ math scores are at or above average for all kids. Hoover students outperform their state peers in math, reading, and science.

Section 8 voucher holders who reside at Pine Point will have access to opportunities that otherwise would not be available to them given their choices for housing in the St. Paul and Minneapolis metropolitan area. Pine Point is also well-located to public transportation, retail, and other neighborhood amenities, as there is a bus stop at the entrance of the property which provides service to downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis. 

For more information on Pine Point Apartments or NHT’s HOPE initiative contact Senior Vice President Scott Kline.