The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT) has announced that it is providing $6.6 million of union pension capital to preserve affordability and carry out a major rehabilitation of the Holy Infant Apartments and the St. Joseph Apartments (pictured left), two developments for low-income seniors in the St. Louis suburb of Shrewsbury, Mo.
According to Ted Chandler, the HIT's chief operating officer, this new investment is part of the trust's Construction Jobs Initiative, a national effort to get union construction workers back on the job through investments in housing projects. Since establishing this initiative in 2009, the HIT has invested nearly $1 billion of union pension capital to generate more than 12,000 union construction jobs across the country. This includes nearly $200 million invested in seven projects in and around St. Louis.
To help finance the new project, the HIT also purchased $6.6 million of tax-exempt bonds issued by the Industrial Development Authority for St. Louis County and insured by Ginnie Mae securities.
‘The HIT's investments in the St. Louis metro area in the last four years have helped leverage $400 million of total development and created nearly 2,700 jobs for members of the building and construction trades unions,’ Chandler says. ‘These investments are helping the HIT achieve competitive returns for our investors in addition to bringing jobs and economic development to this community.’
