Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits features Florida Community Loan Fund and Central Florida Health Care

The following is an excerpt from the December 2015 Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits article by Teresa Garcia, Senior Writer. Click here to read the article in full.

Read more about FCLF and our work with Central Florida Health Care (CFHC) here and here.
Learn more about the Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits here.

When nonprofit Central Florida Health Care (CFHC) needed to expand its facilities on a limited budget, it discovered that new markets tax credit (NMTC) financing could make all the difference. With the help of federal and state NMTCs, CFHC will expand two of its 10 existing clinics in central Florida and will open another two locations. The result will be an extra 48,000 square feet of health care space by spring 2016.

“We’re always looking at ways to enhance our clinics and see more patients,” said Ann Claussen, CFHC’s CEO. Claussen said CFHC provides health care to 30,000 patients per year and is expected to serve as many as 32,000 patients when the new facilities open next year.

“We consider [federally qualified health centers] to be at the very center of our target for achieving impact in the low-income community,” said Nelson Black, chief lending officer for Florida Community Loan Fund (FCLF), the project’s NMTC allocatee. “No other organization provides more benefit to low-income clients than these organizations do.”

The communities served by CFHC have poverty rates between 24 and 40 percent, as well as unemployment rates that are 2.3 times the national average. A third of the organization’s patients are uninsured. CFHC’s motto, “health care with a heart,” means that no patient is turned away or denied medical care because of inability to pay. CFHC specializes in migrant worker health, offering bilingual services and discounts based on family income. CFHC’s facilities provide patients comprehensive primary care, including medical, dental, laboratory and X-ray services.

The appeal of the NMTC structure is that it will allow CFHC to make interest-only payments for seven years, at the end of which, $3.5 million of the loan will be converted into equity. “I think that it clearly demonstrates what is best about NMTCs, which is the ability to take a project that lacks the necessary equity and use project funding to get started right now–rather than waiting years to assemble the necessary capital through more traditional conventional and grant sources,” said Black. FCLF provided $8.5 million of federal and $6.4 million of state NMTC allocation.

“I think it’s accurate to say that without new markets, these projects wouldn’t have happened,” said Jennifer Westerbeck, vice president at U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation (USBCDC), which provided about $2.9 million in federal NMTC equity and $1.4 million in state NMTC equity. “There’s going to be job creation and really valuable services that otherwise wouldn’t be provided in those communities.”