One of the toughest challenges that cities face is navigating how to best help people who are struggling with homelessness and mental health challenges.
The Life Link is a remarkable organization that provides Santa Fe with the services needed to help people at critical transition points – whether it be recovery from addiction or adjusting to life outside of incarceration.
“The Life Link is a longstanding organization that has very deep roots and a long history with this kind of work, which is one of the reasons we were so excited to partner with them,” said Homewise President Laura Altomare. “People have so few places to turn for accessible, culturally appropriate assistance. The Life Link does so much good for those most in need.”
The Life Link rents and owns multiple buildings because of the multitude of services it provides. Management hoped to benefit from a synergy of services by having housing services, supplies, clinical rehabilitation services, and a base for city and county outreach all in one place.
“We wanted to bring all of us and all of our services together into the same space,” said The Life Link CEO Michael DeBernardi, PsyD, MS. “What we didn’t realize when we were envisioning this was that by purchasing our own property we would also benefit from monthly mortgage payments that were just one-third of what we were previously paying in rent!”
Homewise partnered with The Life Link through the process of financing the purchase of their property and with the help of a Homewise commercial loan and additional grant funding from another source, The Life Link acquired a 2,600-square-foot property.
“Homewise made it easy to work through the process needed to qualify for financing. That was not our core competency,” added DeBernardi. “Because we partnered with Homewise we were able to get an affordable loan to cover the cost of purchase that exceeded our grant funding, and position ourselves for the future.”
The Homewise commercial lending program was designed to help businesses and organizations to own their own facilities. Homewise believes that when it can help a business or organization own its own facility instead of renting it, that business or that nonprofit organization is set up for long-term financial well-being and success.
The Life Link has been serving the Santa Fe community since 1987. Its mission is to help hungry, homeless, and displaced individuals and families achieve self-sufficiency through emergency assistance, housing, employment services, and other supportive programs including advanced addiction and mental health treatment services.
Learn more about The Life Link. For information about the Homewise commercial lending program, contact Johanna Gilligan, Senior Director of Community Development at Homewise.
Finance New Mexico article 798 courtesy of Homewise