frequently asked questions

We have flexible sources that help to solve your funding needs: construction loans, permanent loans, gap financing, healthy housing design loans, and mezzanine loans to help fund workforce developments. Loans can be used for LIHTC deals or as standalone products, with options available from below $1M, up to $7.5M and higher. Our primary source of funds come from taxable and tax-exempt bond issues, while other internal sources provide funds for gap financing and smaller loan needs.

For over 45 years, CHFA has invested billions of dollars in multifamily mortgage loans to create or preserve units serving low- to moderate-income renters throughout Colorado. As the state housing and finance authority, our mission is to finance safe, decent, and affordable housing. The CHFA Multifamily Lending team is a trusted partner in the industry, driven by our mission, and focused on community. By being flexible and solutions-oriented, we help you get your deals done.

• Long-term permanent loans (SMART and SIMPLE)  finance:
  • 9 percent Housing Credit properties,
  • Non-Housing Credit properties, and
  • Smaller 4 percent Housing Credit projects (SMART only).
• Construction-to-permanent loans finance larger 4 percent Housing Credit properties using PAB, structured with CHFA as the senior lender (CAPABLE) or with a construction lender bank partner (PAIRABLE).
• Housing Opportunity Fund (HOF) loans finance:
  • Small first mortgages,
  • Competitive second loans behind CHFA senior debt to leverage more overall loan proceeds, or
  • A subsidy to lower borrowing rates and costs on CHFA senior debt.
• Capital Magnet Fund (CMF) loans finance properties that:
  • target units at 50 percent AMI or less,
  • are in areas of economic distress, and/or
  • located in rural areas.
  • The loans can be used as a first mortgage, for secondary gap financing, or a third mortgage. Up to 20 percent can be given as a grant when paired with CHFA senior debt.

To see a side-by-side comparison of programs, click here.

Yes. CHFA minimum requirements include at least 75 percent of units must be rented to residents earning no more than 120 percent AMI and at least 20 percent of the total units must be rented to residents at 80% or less AMI. When tax credits, tax-exempt bonds, or Risk Share insurance is involved, there is a deeper requirement for 20% of the units at 50 percent AMI or 40 percent at 60 percent AMI. Rent and income limits are published annually by HUD. View current limits.

​Trusted partner

With over 45 years of financing affordable housing, CHFA Multifamily Lending is an industry leader. Our rates and costs are competitive, terms are favorable, and our expertise and technical knowledge helps ensure an efficient underwriting process and flexible resolution to potential pitfalls.

Also, our involvement will continue through compliance. CHFA monitors the compliance requirement of all properties that we finance, helping to ensure you have the expertise and technical knowledge you need throughout the life of the loan.

Community-focused

CHFA Multifamily Lending understands the importance of community—be it your project, the town/city in which it is located, or the larger Colorado affordable housing industry.

That's why we offer efficient process times from application to commitment—90 days or less for permanent loans and 150-180 days or less for construction-to-permanent financing (including the bond issuance and closing process). If you are awarded Housing Credits or state Housing AHTC, CHFA can streamline your underwriting experience by sharing information between the tax credit team and loan staff.

We offer gap financing programs to help with ever-growing project costs, including programs to help improve tenant experience. We also can use HOF to leverage more loan proceeds or reduce financing costs to the project.

Mission-driven

As the state housing and finance agency, we can use our flexible financing sources to work with you to help you get the deal done.

And, because affordable housing is CHFA's mission, we reinvest income from loan repayments back into the affordable housing industry through new loans and the creation of additional programs. 

The HFA/HUD 542(c) Risk Sharing program is an FHA mortgage insurance tool used by CHFA and other housing finance agencies to provide credit enhancement to multifamily affordable housing mortgages. CHFA originates, underwrites, processes, and services the loans to projects that include new construction, substantial rehabilitation, and refinance. CHFA and HUD share 50/50 in the risk of loss of the mortgage in the event of an insurance claim. The Risk Share credit enhancement provides full FHA mortgage insurance to enhance CHFA’s bonds and allows CHFA to borrow at more favorable rates in the capital markets.

Under the Risk Sharing program, CHFA serves as the originator, underwriter, processor, and servicer of the Risk Share loan. Because CHFA is the underwriter, the process to obtain a HUD firm approval for the FHA insurance is significantly streamlined, because HUD does not underwrite the project as it does under the MAP program.

HUD still requires a NEPA environmental review, completion of the 2530 process, and the Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan, and CHFA reviews the loan due diligence items to underwrite the loan.

Most of CHFA’s programs utilize Risk Share insurance during the permanent phase only, which does not require Davis Bacon wages. Davis Bacon is only required when Risk Share insurance is used to credit-enhance the construction loan draws.

Typically, the timeline is between 60 and 90 days for a permanent loan. However, programs that utilize Private Activity Bonds and 4 percent Housing Credits typically take between 120 and 180 days, depending upon CHFA’s receipt of checklist items and other factors.

CHFA's processing time is competitive with other lenders in the industry. Our experience is that our underwriting period is nearly always in line or ahead of the timing of other funders and closing elements, and rarely does CHFA's process hold up the closing of a project.

• On a forward commitment where CHFA is the permanent lender, the due diligence and commitment period takes from 60 to 90 days from the receipt of a complete loan application to issuance of a loan commitment.
• For construction-to-permanent loans that involve Private Activity Bonds, the timing from application to closing ranges from 150 to 180 days due to the additional timing needed to market and issue the bonds, along with deeper due diligence on the construction documents. The HUD environmental review also adds lead time to the due diligence period.

Please contact us directly at 800.877.2432 or contact one of our loan officers, and we can answer questions, help determine if CHFA financing is a good fit for the project and send a preliminary term sheet with a financing proposal. Once the term sheet is signed and returned by the borrower with the application fee, we will begin the application review and due diligence process.