The Hyde Park neighborhood in San Juan, Puerto Rico is an urban melting pot of young families and students. With easy access to amenities, public transportation, and downtown commerce, the area is also an ideal setting for low-income senior citizens who rely on public transportation for their daily needs. This area and greater San Juan in general have historically had a chronic shortage of affordable housing, particularly for the elderly population; but, NDC is helping address this problem.
NDC’s Corporate Equity Fund (CEF) helped to address this problem in 1999 with La Merced, a senior housing development, financed with Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). A vacant school building was redeveloped to provide 89 units of senior housing in Hato Rey, a neighborhood close to public transportation, medical services and shopping. On March 27, 2009, another CEF project, La Egida Perpetuo Socorro, in San Juan, will have its ribbon cutting, bringing 66 units of newly constructed affordable senior housing to Hyde Park. The development has secured subsidies through Puerto Rico’s Law 173 so that qualified tenants will pay only 30% of their income to live in the new apartments. NDC is excited about this development and hopes to play a continued role in Puerto Rico’s affordable housing development.