Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity has signed what may be the largest banking partnership deal in the history of the organization.
Bremer Bank has stepped in to be the primary partner for Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity's new Home Loan Impact Fund, the backbone of the group's 2020 strategic plan.
Last summer, Twin Cities Habitat said it would set up a new loan fund that would get approximately 500 working-class families into new homes over four years. It set about searching for partners to seed the new fund.
Bremer has stepped in and agreed to purchase all 500 mortgages. St. Paul-based Sunrise Banks, another longtime supporter of Twin Cities Habitat, has agreed to provide the origination services on the mortgages.
"We are a community bank," said Jeanne Crain, CEO of St. Paul-based Bremer. "We are really invested in the health and welfare of communities in which we do business."
The partnership agreement calls for Bremer Bank to purchase up to 500 below-market Habitat mortgages over the next four years. Taking on all the mortgages greatly simplifies the plan and allows Twin Cities Habitat to focus on other aspects of the plan.
"This partnership with Bremer is probably the largest banking partnership a Habitat affiliate has ever had anywhere in the country," said Sue Haigh, president and CEO of Twin Cities Habitat.
In the first 32 years of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, the organization helped approximately 1,200 families. Under the new plan as many as 500 families and 2,500 family members stand to benefit and achieve their dreams of homeownership.