The 80-apartment Lamplighter Village in Canton will receive a $7.1 million MassHousing loan to preserve affordability for its senior citizen residents.

National Union Properties, which owns the housing community, will seek to extend the Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contract on all 80 apartments for the longest term possible, which is typically 20 years, when the current HAP contract expires in October 2012, according to a statement. Lamplighter Village was refinanced through MassHousing’s Section 8 Proactive Preservation Program, which seeks to extend affordability at developments where Section 8 HAP contracts are due to expire.

"Lamplighter Village is a valuable affordable housing resource for seniors in Canton and we are pleased that this MassHousing loan closing will preserve that affordability for years to come," said MassHousing Executive Director Thomas R. Gleason.

Built in 1982 on Stagecoach Road in Canton, Lamplighter Village consists of five two-story, wood-frame buildings containing 75 one-bedroom apartments and five two-bedroom apartments.