Approximately 48-Unit Employee Housing Facility to Support Health Care Workforce Serving the Northwest Arctic Borough
KOTZEBUE, Alaska. – The Public Finance Authority (PFA) has approved up to $250 million in revenue bond financing for Maniilaq Association (pronounced “mah-NEE-luk”), an Alaska nonprofit corporation and P.L. 93-638 Tribal Health organization, to finance the development and construction of an approximately 48-unit employee housing facility in the City of Kotzebue, Alaska.
Maniilaq operates a health care facility in Kotzebue serving the communities of the Northwest Arctic Borough – a region that would rank as the 37th largest state in the country by land area. The new Employee Housing Facility will be constructed on a parcel of land adjacent to Maniilaq’s existing health care facility and will provide housing for employees of that facility. The development, construction, and equipping of the facility will be carried out by TDP Maniilaq, LLC.
The financing will enable Maniilaq to address a longstanding workforce housing challenge in one of the most geographically remote communities in the United States. By providing stable, on-site housing for health care workers, the project supports Maniilaq’s ability to recruit and retain the employees needed to deliver essential medical services to Northwest Arctic Borough residents. The project is expected to promote significant economic and community development, including the creation and retention of employment and the stimulation of economic activity across the region.
“Delivering quality health care in a community as remote as Kotzebue requires not just dedicated providers but the infrastructure to support them. This financing will give Maniilaq the tools to house the workforce that keeps essential medical services running for the people of the Northwest Arctic Borough, and that is exactly the kind of public benefit PFA was created to support,” said Bill Kacvinsky, PFA Board Chair.
Under the financing structure, the project site will be ground-leased to PFA by Maniilaq, and the completed Employee Housing Facility will be leased back to Maniilaq pursuant to a Facility Lease.
The PFA Board of Directors approved the resolution authorizing the issuance of the bonds and all necessary financing documents.