Background

The Multifamily Mortgage Revenue Bond program (MMRB) uses both taxable and tax-exempt bonds to provide below market-rate loans to non-profit and for-profit developers who set aside a certain percentage of their apartment units for low income families. These bonds are sold through either a competitive or negotiated method of sale or private placement. The program requires that at least 20 percent of the units be set aside for households earning at or below 50 percent of the area median income (AMI). The developer may also opt to set aside 40 percent of the units for households earning at or below 60 percent of the AMI.

The MMRB program encourages targeting in several areas. For the 2003 Universal Application Cycle, small counties recieve 10 percent (10%) of the total allocation, and medium counties receive 31 percent (31%) of the total allocation. Large counties will receive 59 percent (59%) of the allocation. Special consideration is given to developments that target specific groups or areas such as the Florida Keys, rural development, the elderly, urban infill areas, Front Porch Florida communities, HOPE VI communities, homeless people, and farmworkers or commercial fishing workers.

Affordable housing developers are able to use the dollars from this program in conjunction with other Florida Housing programs, such as the Affordable Housing Guarantee Program, which participates in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Multifamily Risk Sharing program, and the State Apartment Incentive Loan Program.

The MMRB process is a multi-layered process that includes periods such as the allocation of private activity bonds; rule development, ranking and scoring of applications; public hearings; credit underwriting; fiscal sufficiency; loan commitment; real estate closing; and bond pricing and closing. Typically, affordable housing developers involved in the construction or acquisition of properties of 200 units or more submit applications to the MMRB program.