Real Estate Capital Simplified
The CHFA SMART Program: A Developer's Guide
SMART: Sizeable Multifamily Affordable Risk Share Tool
This is CHFA's permanent loan program for Colorado affordable and mixed-income projects, offering up to 40-year fixed-rate financing through an FHA risk-sharing structure. It is not limited to tax-credit deals. I'm Carl Riggins. I advise Colorado sponsors on where SMART fits in a capital stack and arrange the rest of the structure around it through the Northmarq platform.
The best-kept secret in Colorado multifamily finance is a public program with a published web page. Almost nobody outside the affordable-housing world knows SMART exists, and the sponsors who'd benefit most — market-rate developers with a mixed-income component penciling at today's rates — are exactly the ones who've never heard of it.
How does the SMART program actually work?
Rescue capital fits any situation where the property still works but the balance sheet doesn't:
- A construction loan maturing before stabilization, with the bank unwilling to extend on the original terms.
- A rate cap expiring at a multiple of what it cost to buy.
- A refinance that appraises below the payoff, leaving a gap the senior won't bridge.
- A partner who needs out — of the deal, or of the business — before the asset is ready to sell.
- A budget that construction costs outran, with the project 80% of the way home.
What does SMART offer that conventional lanes don't?
Three structures cover most Colorado situations. Preferred equity sits behind the senior loan and typically carries the stack to 85–90% of cost, priced in the low-to-mid teens depending on risk position.
Mezzanine debt does similar work where the senior lender permits it. A full recapitalization replaces existing equity entirely: a new partner buys in, the tired one exits, and the debt is rewritten around the new basis.
Which one fits depends on what your senior lender will allow, what your appraisal supports, and how long your business plan needs. Current pricing for each layer is on our Equity page.
Which projects fit?
Projects with regulated affordable or mixed-income components
Critically, both LIHTC and non-LIHTC deals qualify. That second category is the overlooked one: sponsors assume state housing-finance money means tax-credit paperwork, and for SMART it doesn't have to.
Eligibility specifics and current terms move with CHFA's allocations, so treat this guide as the map, not the survey — I confirm current program criteria against your deal before anything goes in.
How does SMART compare to HUD direct or the agencies?
Against HUD 223(f) or 221(d)(4): materially faster, because CHFA holds the underwriting pen, at the cost of HUD's absolute maximum leverage. Against Fannie and Freddie affordable executions: longer fixed terms and risk-share pricing, against the agencies' speed and familiarity. The right answer is deal math, not loyalty — which is why this comparison should be run with live quotes from all three lanes, not a brochure from one.