Regional News
By Eric Wong and AHF staff
(Affordable Housing Finance, March 2005)
Illinois
State tackles preservation, workforce housing
Chicago – With the long-awaited release in January of “Building for Success: Illinois’ Comprehensive Housing Plan,” developers in this state have a clearer idea of what housing initiatives to expect in the next three years.
The plan was created by Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s Task Force on Affordable Housing, which was set up in late 2003 and is chaired by Kelly King Dibble, executive director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority. The task force and its working groups were made up of developers, state and local officials, housing advocates and other experts. Perhaps because developers were part of the process, the plan has been “well received” by developers, Dibble told Affordable Housing Finance. “I think they see there are opportunities to get the work they like to do in the state.”
Much of fiscal year 2005 will be devoted to the task of getting the state’s agencies to complement each other in their housing efforts. But some of the action items had already been built into the state’s 2005 qualified allocation plan, such as creating a separate set-aside for large public housing authorities (see Affordable Housing Finance, August 2004, page 32).
Opportunities for developers will include serving the six populations that Blagojevich directed the task force to focus on: very low income households; low-income seniors; low-income people with disabilities; homeless people and those at risk of homelessness; people unable to afford housing near work or transportation; and low-income people in existing affordable housing that is at risk of becoming unaffordable.
The comprehensive plan includes detailed descriptions of action items and the problems they are designed to serve, as well as a timeline for implementation. The 29 actions range from creating new homeownership programs to increasing the amount of tax-exempt bond cap available for employer-assisted housing (see Affordable Housing Finance, November 2004, page 74). You can download the comprehensive plan at www.ihda.org/ViewPage.aspx?PageID=30.
Dibble said the task force will continue meeting and coordinating the implementation of the comprehensive plan. She said the intention is to keep as many of the participants involved as possible. “The idea is to keep some structure in place, so we’re accountable for implementing the plan,” she said.
CTA garage to become affordable housing
Chicago – A $26.5 million tax-increment financing package from the city’s Community Development Commission is expected to jump start the $113 million redevelopment of Wilson Yards, a former Chicago Transit Authority maintenance garage. Final approval from the city council was anticipated at press time.
When completed, the mixed-use project will include two apartment buildings offering 71 units of affordable housing and 70 units of seniors housing. A Target store and a 12-screen movie theater will also be built here.
Minnesota
Dominium renovates townhouse community
Plymouth – Dominium Development & Acquisition, LLC, is renovating Willow Wood Estates, a 40-unit project-based Sec. 8 townhouse community built here in 1980. The $7 million rehabilitation will include a new community center. Anticipated completion is October 2005.
Financial partners include the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, Hennepin County Housing and Redevelopment Authority, Hennepin County, the city of Plymouth, Paramount Financial Group, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Glaser Financial Group.
The units are reserved for families earning no more than 50% of the area median income (AMI).
Wisconsin
WHEDA modernization push includes HOME, taxation reform
Madison, Wis. – If the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) achieves its top priorities in 2005, affordable housing developers and owners there could enjoy new program flexibility and expanded state lending power. WHEDA’s top goals for the legislative session that kicked off in January are passage of a “modernization bill” and completing taxation reform for nonprofit-run affordable housing in the state, according to Executive Director Antonio Riley.
The modernization bill contains a set of proposals, including:
• Removing the 97% loan-to-value restriction on HOME loans. That would eliminate the need for downpayment assistance, freeing up money for other programs, said Riley.
• Giving WHEDA flexibility in determining rural median incomes so that more rural residents would qualify for WHEDA loans.
• Eliminating a rule forcing borrowers to be in their homes for 10 years before receiving WHEDA home-improvement loans.
• Eliminating the maximum home-improvement loan amount and term, currently $17,500 over 15 years.
• Increasing WHEDA’s bonding authority for rental housing from $325 million to $450 million.
• Allowing WHEDA to work outside Wisconsin, such as managing Sec. 8 portfolios for other housing agencies.
The taxation reform is a follow-up to the successful battle against a 2003 state supreme court ruling that allowed municipalities to levy property taxes on nonprofit-operated affordable housing (see Affordable Housing Finance, June 2004, page 2). In mid-2004, Gov. Jim Doyle signed legislation protecting the nonprofits, but Riley said this year he’s pushing for legislation that would better clarify for tax assessors what would be taxable. Another proposal would provide tax incentives to encourage high-end developments to include affordable units.
Doyle’s Task Force for Housing Preservation warned in late 2004 that the state needed to make significant policy changes by the end of the decade or it could lose more than 35,000 units of affordable housing. Some of its proposals, such as increasing WHEDA’s bonding authority, are already on Riley’s 2005 wish list; Riley said he and the governor would consider the other recommendations in the near future. The report can be downloaded at www.wheda.com/cat_mf/PreservationReport.pdf.
Riley said WHEDA is also gearing up “to raise holy hell” to defend its controversial program that offers home loans to non-citizen immigrants holding individual taxpayer identification numbers (ITINs). A state legislator has introduced a bill attacking the program, but Riley said the ITIN program recognizes a burgeoning population of potential homeowners who otherwise could fall prey to abusive subprime lending (see Affordable Housing Finance, November 2004, page 70).
Massachusetts
$45.3 million awarded statewide
Boston – More than $45.3 million in state resources will be used to create and preserve 564 rental units in 16 projects statewide, said Gov. Mitt Romney. Of those units, 551 will be affordable to low- and moderate-income individuals and families.
Approximately $31.5 million of the funds will be generated from federal low-income housing tax credits (LIHTCs). The remaining $13.8 million will be awarded from the state Department of Housing and Community Development’s Housing Stabilization Fund, the HOME program, the Housing Innovations Fund and the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia to start housing trust fund
Philadelphia – The city may soon have a new housing trust fund that is expected to raise $14 million a year. Legislation was pending at press time.
The trust fund would support housing production, housing preservation and home repair, homelessness prevention, and increased housing accessibility. At least half the funds would be spent on housing production. Only nonprofits and nonprofit joint ventures would be eligible for funding.
The trust fund dollars would be aimed at residents with low and moderate incomes. Half of the fund would be targeted to households earning no more than 30% of AMI, while the other half would aim at households earning between 30% and 115% of AMI.
AHP awards total $7.3 million
Dallas – The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas has awarded $7.3 million in Affordable Housing Program (AHP) grants to 58 projects. This will help create more than 1,500 new or rehabilitated housing units.
This was the second of two rounds in 2004. The awards were made to the following:
• Arkansas, $2.1 million for 613 units;
• Louisiana, $1.3 million for 185 units;
• Mississippi, $286,704 for 53 units;
• New Mexico, $738,900 for 108 units;
• Texas, $2.5 million for 477 units; and
• Georgia, $350,000 for 65 units.
Virginia
The Gates of Ballston gets $100 million rehab
Arlington – Arlington Housing Corp., Inc. (AHC), is undertaking a major renovation of its 464-unit The Gates of Ballston, which includes building a new community center and 19-unit condominium building.
The total development cost will be $100 million. AHC will receive an $8.5 million loan from the state’s affordable housing investment fund, $23 million in tax-exempt bonds and a $480,000 tenant assistance grant. The nonprofit will also receive state historic tax credits.
Three-quarters of the units will be reserved for tenants earning no more than 60% of AMI.
Georgia
Montdele uses LIHTCs for rehab
Montdele Development, L.P., received $4.2 million in LIHTC equity from Raymond James Tax Credit Funds, Inc. The money will be used to rehabilitate Pecan Grove in Cordele and Country Village Apartments in Montezuma. The projects have a total of 88 one- to three-bedroom units, which will all be reserved for families earning no more than 60% of AMI.
Completion is expected in August 2005.
Florida
Southport acquires Timuquana
Jacksonville – Southport Financial Services, Inc., received a 30-year, fully amortizing $4.3 million Fannie Mae tax-exempt bond credit enhancement from Red Mortgage Capital, Inc., for the acquisition of the 100-unit Timuquana Park Apartments.
The apartments were built in 1981 with Sec. 221(d)(4) mortgage insurance. All the units were reserved for tenants earning no more than 60% of AMI. The property benefits from a housing assistance payments contract that provides Sec. 8 rental assistance through August 2008.
Red Mortgage Capital is the mortgage banking unit of RED Capital Group.
California
Master-planned complex includes affordable housing
San Marcos – The Southern California Housing Development Corp. is building a new $25 million affordable housing complex here, 35 miles from San Diego.
The five-acre, 114-unit University Commons Apartments is part of the 250-acre University Commons master-planned community in the southwestern part of the city. Apartments will range in size from 650 to 1,176 square feet, with rents beginning at $417. All of the units will be set aside for residents earning no more than 60% of AMI.
Financing includes $7 million in LIHTC equity from Related Capital, $4 million in financing from the California Community Reinvestment Corp., and $6.4 million from the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
Construction is expected to be completed by the first half of 2006.
Seniors housing gets $12 million in LIHTC equity
Chico – Affordable Housing Development Corp., Inc., received $12 million in LIHTC equity from Related Capital Co., a subsidiary of CharterMac. The money will help finance the development of 1200 Park Avenue Apartments, a 107-unit affordable seniors housing project here.
The city of Chico provided an additional $4.8 million in financing, which included a $500,000 HOME grant.
The one- and two-bedroom apartments will range in size from 580 to 880 square feet, with rents beginning at $236 per month. All units will be restricted to seniors earning between 30% and 60% of AMI.
Completion is expected in summer 2006.
High-quality custom reprints and PDFs of this article from the print magazine may be available.
|
