Greystone and Lappin Associates announce affordable housing joint venture

Recognizing the growing need for affordable housing, CRE lending company Greystone and development services firm Lappin Associates have formed a joint venture that aims to finance affordable multifamily housing.

Through the joint venture, the companies will deploy “billions in capital for the financing, preservation, stabilization” of affordable multifamily properties with a government-backed and HUD-insured loan. The funding aims to enable owners to make moderate renovations that would prolong the life of their properties.

With the national housing inventory at historic low levels during the coronavirus pandemic, Greystone CEO Stephen Rosenberg said that affordable housing is of utmost need.

“The nation’s affordable housing stock – and particularly New York City’s – is in crisis, but there is a proven method for preserving properties both financially and physically with the help of government-backed loans and a strategic plan for long-term upgrades and efficiency,” Rosenberg said. “We believe this joint venture brings together the strongest providers in the affordable housing sector to give new life to critical residential housing, and we are thrilled to make an impact for both private and non-profit owners and their many residents.”

“Well over one and a half million low- and moderate-income New Yorkers live in private and nonprofit-owned rental housing,” said Michael Lappin, founding partner of Lappin Associates. “Much of this housing is old and needs critical upgrading. In the current crisis, almost all of this housing is stressed financially and needs a lifeline. Borrowing techniques pioneered by CPC in the ’70s and ’80s that preserved tens of thousands of apartments, our work with Greystone will seek to provide a safety net for this housing. By leveraging today’s historically low interest rates, combined with help from the government and the private capital markets, this housing can remain physically and financially strong and provide affordable and healthy housing for this and the next generation. Our initiative with Greystone can set an example of how this can be done on a meaningful scale in New York and in other urban centers.”