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BOSTON — The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston (the Bank) awarded more than $1.3 million to fund 11 units of affordable rental housing in Providence, Rhode Island. Of this amount, nearly $600,000 was in the form of a grant and advance subsidy. In all, 16 initiatives in New England received nearly $9.7 million in grants, loans, and rate subsidies as part of the Bank's Affordable Housing Program (AHP) to create or preserve 284 rental and ownership units for very low-, low-, and moderate-income individuals and families.

Each year, the Bank sets aside 10 percent of its net profits to provide grants and subsidized, below market-rate loans through the AHP. "In New England and elsewhere, demand for affordable housing far exceeds the supply," said Michael A. Jessee, the Bank's president and chief executive officer. "The Bank's AHP provides members and developers much needed funds to provide more New Englanders a safe, decent, and affordable place to live."

Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), a member of the Senate Housing Committee, stated, "This is an important contribution to the effort to provide safe, decent and affordable housing in Rhode Island. These grants provide critical funding in the state and are helping to revitalize our cities and communities."

AHP funds are used to create or preserve affordable housing and help pay construction, acquisition, or rehabilitation costs. Member financial institutions work with local developers to apply for AHP funding, awarded twice a year through a competitive scoring process. The application deadline for the first round of next year's AHP awards is April 28, 2006.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston (www.fhlbboston.com) is a cooperatively owned wholesale bank for housing finance in the six New England states. Its mission is to support the residential-mortgage and community-development lending activities of its members, which include over 460 financial institutions across New England. To accomplish its mission, the Bank utilizes private-sector capital to provide members and other qualified customers with reliable access to low-cost wholesale funds, liquidity, a competitive outlet for the sale of loans, special lending programs, technical assistance, and other products and services.

Information on the awards follows, and is also available at www.fhlbboston.com/ahp. For more information, see our backgrounder.

The Awards

	Location:	Providence, Rhode Island
	Member:	Bank Rhode Island
	Sponsor:	AS220
	Units:	11 rental units
	Subsidy:	$595,353 grant and advance subsidy, $710,047 advance
	AS220 at The Hotel Dreyfus
	Acquisition and rehabilitation of an historic hotel to create a mixed-use building with 14 residential/work artist studios, 10 work studios, and first-floor commercial space including a restaurant and gallery/micro-business incubator for artists. Eleven of the 14 residential units will be for very low-income households and three will be unrestricted, market-rate units. AS220 will provide economic empowerment services targeted to artists, including employment training and opportunities, a residents' council, and participation on the AS220 board of directors. This initiative reuses a historic property, is accessible to mass transit, has higher housing density, will be a high-performance/energy-efficient building, and contributes to community leadership opportunities through the downtown improvement district. The member is using the AHP advance for the permanent debt, and additional financing includes Historic and New Markets Tax Credits, state HOME funds, a city grant, and subordinate debt from the Providence Economic Development Corporation. The AHP funds do not pay for either the capital or operating costs of the commercial uses. Approved in Round Two of the 2005 AHP.