Washington Appleseed Project Named One of Bond Buyer's Top Deals of 2007

Last month, a Washington Appleseed project was named by Bond Buyer magazine as one of the top 10 regional deals of 2007. The project created a $30 million revolving "Affordable Housing Fund" that was then used to purchase 219 affordable housing units in Washington State's Puget Sound region and was described as "the largest known affordable housing purchase in Snohomish County."

Washington Appleseed enlisted attorneys from Foster Pepper and Davis Wright Tremaine, who donated hundreds of pro bono hours, to work with the YWCA of Seattle - King County to develop a creative way to finance a 10-year low-income housing project. The attorneys created a financing mechanism to securitize -- to buy loans from lenders, arrange them in groups and issue bonds on the groups.

"This project is the first time such mezzanine financing has been attempted to benefit a nonprofit housing operator," Sue Donaldson, executive director of Washington Appleseed, said in a January 15th article published by the Bond Buyer's Daily Newspaper of Public Finance. "It also promotes a long-term solution to a continuing problem rather than simply a temporary stop-gap measure."

To buy the complexes, the YWCA of Seattle - King County will pay back batches of bonds during the next 30 years. The project ends up saving nearly $2.5 million at no cost to taxpayers.