Affordable Housing Finance

SPECIAL FOCUS

Readers' Choice Finalists

Seniors Finalists

AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE • July/August 2009

Making the Case for Inclusionary Housing

HAYWARD, CALIF. Hayward Senior Housing is a prime example of how an inclusionary zoning policy can lead to affordable housing.

Such policies generally require market-rate developers to set aside a portion of the units in a project as affordable housing. Hayward passed an ordinance in 2004.

In order to satisfy its obligation, SCS Development Co. donated a key site and provided gap financing to nonprofit Eden Housing, Inc., to build the new community, one of the first built under the city ordinance.

“Hayward Senior is a stellar model for the use of inclusionary zoning to maximize public benefit,” says Linda Mandolini, executive director of Eden Housing. It is the first new housing development for low-income seniors in the city since the 1980s.

Located across the street from a Bay Area Rapid Transit train station, the 60-unit complex is also the epitome of a transit-oriented development. Eden has located its corporate offices on the ground floor, so employees are also commuting by train.

The apartments serve seniors earning no more than 30 percent, 45 percent, and 50 percent of the area median income. A service coordinator provides direct assistance to residents as well as coordinates with outside service providers.

The $15.2 million development was financed largely with low-income housing tax credit equity from Union Bank.

Featuring energy-efficient and water- saving products, the building replaces a cannery, which the city had wanted to redevelop for years. —Donna Kimura

Nonprofits Join Forces on 990 Polk

SAN FRANCISCO Formerly homeless and low-income seniors are integrated under one roof at 990 Polk Street.

“It’s an example of a mixed-population approach to supportive housing for the homeless,” says James Buckley, president of Citizens Housing Corp. “ With the city’s assistance, we are able to provide 50 of the 110 units for people coming from the streets or shelters and surround them with services to stay in housing long term.”

Citizens and Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corp. (TNDC), both San Francisco-based nonprofit developers, had looked at the site separately before opting to work together to build 990 Polk. The new housing replaces a gritty parking lot and a laundry business. The development was first conceived to house all low-income seniors, but formerly homeless seniors were added to the mix as part of a city push to move the chronically homeless into permanent housing.

The result is a more diverse community, which the developers have strived for in their work, says Don Falk, TNDC executive director.

The $35.1 million development utilizes two new funding programs from the city and state. First, it uses a new local operating subsidy that helps to keep rents low. The development is also one of the first funded under the state Mental Health Services Act housing program that helps provide permanent housing to people with mental-health issues.

The apartments are reserved for seniors earning no more than 45 percent and 50 percent of the area median income. On-site programs and case management are provided, and a nurse from the city Department of Public Health works at the property.

The development is designed to bring in natural light and features green-building strategies and products. More than 3,500 seniors applied to live at 990 Polk. —Donna Kimura

Project Brings Seniors, Vets Off the Streets

SEATTLE Longtime homeless seniors and veterans have moved off the streets and into the Langdon & Anne Simons Senior Apartments.

Forty-five of the development’s 95 units are aimed at housing seniors who are among Seattle’s highest utilizers of public services, says Paul Lambros, executive director of nonprofit developer Plymouth Housing Group. Of these 45 apartments, 23 are set aside for veterans.

Another 47 units are occupied by seniors who were on Plymouth’s waiting list. All residents were chronically homeless, some for as long as 20 years, with multiple disabilities.

“The project responds to the urgent need for more permanent supportive housing,” says Lambros.

The project employs a Housing First model of rapidly placing the homeless in permanent housing and then making available services, including case managers with expertise in geriatrics, substance abuse, and veterans’ issues. There is an on-site nurse four days per week.

The $22.7 million development is also the new home for Plymouth’s administrative offices.

Ninety-two apartments are for seniors earning no more than 30 percent of the area median income. These apartments have Sec. 8 vouchers. There are three income-regulated staff units.

Financing included about $10 million in low-income housing tax credit equity provided by the National Equity Fund, Inc. The city of Seattle, King County, and the state of Washington provided key financing. —Donna Kimura

Melding New and Old

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF. The construction of 104 new apartments and the rehabilitation of 149 existing units come together at Paulson Park Senior Apartments.

The result is not only more and better affordable housing for seniors but a model for efficient land use.

The original community was built in 1973 and then acquired by Mid- Peninsula Housing Coalition (MPHC) in 1988. The nonprofit organization saw the potential for maximizing the use of the site by turning the parking lots into housing. “We have a responsibility to use our assets wisely, and using this well-located land more efficiently was a good way to increase the supply of housing in a community that needs it,” says President Matt Franklin.

MPHC carefully integrated three new buildings into the site to increase density by 70 percent while maintaining the park-like setting and blending in with the existing structures, explains Juan de Leon, senior project manager.

Thirty-two percent of the new units are reserved for seniors earning no more than 30 percent of the area median income (AMI), and 68 percent for seniors earning no more than 45 percent of the AMI. The rehabbed units are reserved for those earning no more than 50 percent of the AMI. To complement the goal of using land efficiently, the team made sustainability a design focus. The new construction exceeds energy requirements by more than 15 percent through energy-efficient windows and other measures. Photovoltaic panels help to power the lighting and ventilation of the garage and elevators. The rehab also focused on seismic upgrades.

The project cost $28.1 million— $25.3 million for the new construction and $2.8 million for the rehab. The new apartments were largely funded by lowincome housing tax credit equity from AEGON USA Realty Advisors, Inc. —Donna Kimura