Feature News

ATLANTA, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- United Hopes, Inc. (UHI) is pleased to announce the opening of Lakeshore Apartments, their latest addition to affordable housing, which will be officially introduced with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 in Tuskegee, AL.

Lakeshore Apartments, which is located at 205 Lakeview Road, is a 34-unit USDA 515 financed project that was nearing the end of a 20 year hold period, which mandated low cost housing for lower income residents of Tuskegee by instituting rent controls and income restrictions. The present resident population was at risk of displacement if the project had been converted to market rate housing at the end of the hold period, which often occurs with USDA 515 projects.

UHI utilized Affordable Housing Program (AHP) funds in part to acquire the property to maintain its affordability to low income residents. The Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta (FHLBank Atlanta) provided a $500,000 AHP subsidy to the project, in addition to other contributions. The remaining AHP funds are being used to assist in upgrading the property to comply with disabled accessibility guidelines, perform needed upgrades to the property to enhance energy efficiency and livability, and to perform needed repairs and replacements at the property.

UHI is an organization which was created to accept donations of low-income housing property for preservation purposes and to use net revenues received for the purposes of assisting other charitable, religious or educational activities. UHI receives housing property such as Lakeshore Apartments from a syndicator, LLP or other entity such as a HUD or USDA affiliated project and subsequently seeks public grants and/or private foundation funds for the purpose of renovating the property to the benefit of existing and future residents.

About FHLBank Atlanta

FHLBank Atlanta is a $193 billion asset financial institution that provides competitively-priced financing, which its members may use as liquidity and risk management tools, affordable housing financing, first time home buyer grants, community development grants, and other banking services to more than 1,200 financial institutions and their communities in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. FHLBank Atlanta is one of 12 district banks in the Federal Home Loan Bank System, which since 1990 has contributed more than $2 billion to affordable housing development in the United States.