Morgan Stanley, NEF Commit $250M for Affordable Housing

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BRIDGE Housing Corp., a nonprofit developer and owner of affordable housing, has secured $250 million in funding from Morgan Stanley and National Equity Fund in a program that promotes affordable and workforce housing. For BRIDGE, this commitment will leverage up to $1 billion in additional capital. The program will benefit housing for low- and middle-income residents in the 30 percent to 120 percent Area Median Income (AMI) range, with no geographic limitations.

The purpose of this commitment is to preserve and deliver quality affordable and workforce housing on a national level, as stated in prepared remarks by all parties involved.

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The $250 million funding will be used for the purchase of multifamily properties, portfolios and to acquire land and for refinancing, capital improvements and acquisition of general partner interests. Since 2015, BRIDGE has held an A+ (Stable) issuer credit rating from Standard & Poor’s Rating Services.

BRIDGE Housing participated in the development of more than 18,000 home and apartments in California, Oregon and Washington since 1983, with a total development cost of over $3 billion. According to Yardi Matrix data, the company’s current development pipeline consists of 30 properties, in which 23 are fully affordable, five are partially affordable, with two more market rate properties.

BRIDGE Housing had a previous partnership with Morgan Stanley which capitalized the company’s 2020 ESG bond offering $100 million in taxable social bonds, used for predevelopment, development and acquisition of multifamily homes that are affordable, transit-oriented, green and energy efficient. Earlier in March, Amazon, as part of its Housing Equity Fund launched in 2021, partnered with BRIDGE and Sound Transit and funded a $25.8 million low-rate loan commitment and predevelopment grant to create 233 affordable apartments in Bellevue, Wash.