Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and its buy by First Citizens Bank and Trust Company, members of Massachusetts’ congressional delegation are urging the financial institution’s new house owners to maintain intact SVB’s commitments to reasonably priced housing within the state.
“It is clear that SVB had extensive investments and partnerships in the affordable housing sector that should be continued,” the reps and senators mentioned in a letter despatched Thursday. “In the middle of a worsening affordable housing crisis, it is critical that there is a continuation of these activities under new ownership to avoid the disruption of local affordable housing development pipelines and initiatives.”
The letter is addressed to the CEO of First Citizens and is signed by Reps. Stephen Lynch, Ayanna Pressley, Bill Keating, Jim McGovern, Katherine Clark, Seth Moulton, Lori Trahan and Jake Auchincloss and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey.
It lays out SVB’s intensive attain in Massachusetts’s reasonably priced housing sector after the acquisition of Boston Private Bank & Trust Company in 2021, together with financing 18 reasonably priced housing developments with over 800 items at the moment underneath building which can be “largely dependent on the fulfillment of the outstanding lending and investment obligations made by SVB.”
Just one instance, the letter particulars, is the 65-unit growth at 1599 Columbus Avenue in Boston counting on a $24 million SVB building mortgage and different investments.
There are different massive scale investments, in accordance with the letter, together with a partnership with Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation to take a position $75 million initiative in increasing housing in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Of the $2 billion in loans and investments SVB reported during the last twenty years, $1.6 billion have been directed to the development or modernization of reasonably priced housing throughout the nation, the delegation factors out.
In a message following the SVB acquisition, First Citizens informed SVB clients there no imminent modifications to their accounts, however the financial institution didn’t converse definitively to bigger scale investments or commitments.
The Massachusetts representatives lay out a listing of priorities they’re “urging” the brand new possession to think about, largely persevering with preexisting commitments made by SVB.
“We hope that you will see the gravity of this request and maintain the financial commitments that help ensure that the future of affordable housing in Massachusetts remains safe,” the letter reads.
The Herald reached out to First Citizens for its response to the letter, however the financial institution didn’t reply instantly.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”