August 2007 Table of Contents

BRISTOW, VA . - A small housing development in eastern Virginia is offering big discounts on homeownership to teachers, social workers, police officers, and other workers who live in the area but don’t earn enough to buy homes at prevailing market prices. Read more

WORTHINGTON, MINN. - When the Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership (SWMHP) began its substantial rehabilitation of the Viking Terrace Apartments, it set aside four units for homeless families. Read more

Thirty-six developments from across the country have been selected as finalists for this year’s AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE magazine’s Readers’ Choice Awards. Read more

Another round of statistics on the worsening affordable housing crisis hit reporters’ inboxes in June. Read more

BOSTON, MASS. - The new Gatehouse building isn’t just home to 14 recently homeless individuals or people at risk of becoming homeless. Read more

MINNEAPOLIS - On a small site along 10th Avenue in Minneapolis, adjacent to one of the largest redevelopment efforts in the city’s history, sits the Midtown Exchange Condos on the Greenway. Read more

AURORA, COLO. - Florence Square is the cornerstone in the revitalization of original downtown Aurora. Read more

Legislation to establish a National Affordable Housing Trust Fund has been introduced in the House of Representatives, with the goal of producing, rehabilitating, and preserving 1.5 million housing units over the next 10 years. Read more

COLUMBUS, OHIO - Five miles from the city of Columbus in the small suburb of Briggsdale are two buildings that at first glance look like they’re part of a farm residence. On closer inspection, the buildings actually are a new permanent supportive housing development of 35 single-room occupancy (SRO) units. Read more

KANSAS - Developer Ryan Hudspeth managed to get a property owner to donate six apartment complexes in six rural towns here to a fledgling nonprofit in Topeka, Neighborhood Renaissance Foundation. Read more

BRONX, NY - Integrating people with special needs with working families in a building that is exceptionally energy efficient was Dunn Development’s goal when it planned 1212 MLK Apartments here. Read more

EDGARTOWN, MASS. - Every year, at the beginning of summer, thousands of people pack their things and leave their homes on the island of Martha’s Vineyard because they can’t afford the price of a rental apartment here during the summer tourist season. Read more

CAMDEN, NJ. - Every school day, thousands of children come to Camden High School in this city’s Parkside neighborhood.  Read more

PORTLAND, ORE. - This city bid farewell to what was its largest public housing project and welcomed a brand new neighborhood. New Columbia is a total reconstruction of the aging Columbia Villa public housing development, which was built in 1942 for World War II shipyard workers. Read more

MILWAUKEE - When workers tore down the elevated freeway between North Dr. Martin Luther King Drive and Milwaukee’s increasingly busy downtown, local officials decided to bring new shops and offices to this area of warehouses and vacant lots. Read more

ABINGDON, VA. - The 29-unit ElderSpirit Community seeks to offer an alternative kind of independent-living community, one in which close-knit residents will care for one another as they grow older. Read more

CHICAGO, ILL. - The Near North Apartments takes a bold stand in a neighborhood once dominated by the infamous Cabrini-Green public housing project. Read more

PLEASANTON, CALIF. - The curved emerald lawns at The Parkview beckon seniors and their guests inside a lobby with a high ceiling, a glossy piano, and plenty of California light pouring in from windows. Read more

HAYWARD, CA. - Volunteers of America (VOA) overcame regulatory and financial challenges to rehabilitate and preserve the affordability of a key housing development. Read more

ALLENTOWN, PA. - . Pennrose Properties specializes in restoring landmark buildings, and its expertise was just what this city needed to transform two early 20th Century downtown buildings into 63 one-bedroom apartment units for independent seniors aged 62 and older. Read more

MINNEAPOLIS - The Midtown Exchange, Minneapolis’ second largest building, contains one of the most complex tax credit deals in Sherman Associates’ 28 year history. Read more

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - A public housing redevelopment in this economically depressed city is opening new connections between a downtrodden neighborhood and a gentrifying area nearby. Read more

POWAY, CA. - If you think it’s technically or financially infeasible to build a project that draws all its electric power from the sun, you have not seen Solara, a 56-unit family project completed earlier this year in this San Diego County community. Read more

WOMELSDORF, PA. - One-third of all rural renters are paying more than 30 percent of their incomes for housing costs, according to the National Rural Housing Coalition. Read more

WILMINGTON, DE. - The Eastlake neighborhood was known as “the Bucket.” Read more

COLUMBUS, OHIO - Community Properties Revitalization is a massive acquisition-rehabilitation development that spans 209 buildings and 1,075 units throughout seven Columbus, Ohio, neighborhoods. Read more

COOS BAY, ORE. - Coddington Place is a safe home for women and children escaping domestic violence and sexual abuse. Read more

ANNAPOLIS, MD. - A cultural landmark for African-Americans in Maryland, the Wiley H. Bates High School sat vacant for more than 20 years. Read more

HAYWARD, CALIF. - Sara Conner Court is an affordable housing development that achieved multiple goals when it opened its doors in 2006. Read more

CHULA VISTA , CALIF. - Seniors on Broadway is an affordable housing development that aspires to bring its elderly residents together with elementary school children Read more

ST. JOHN, U.S.VIRGIN ISLANDS. - Families who dreamed of owning a home close to work and school on this island were pretty much out of luck before Bellevue Village Apartments started leasing here in June 2006. Read more

MINNEAPOLIS - Many homeless veterans in this Midwestern city had nowhere to go after short-term stays in transitional housing, often ending up back on the street Read more

WASHINGTON, D.C. - After spending many years in tiny apartments in a deteriorating public housing project, the residents of the Arthur Capper seniors building are celebrating the fruits of a major redevelopment project here. Read more

FREDERICKSBURG, VA. - After failing its federally mandated inspections for two years in a row, the oldest HUD-subsidized apartment complex in Virginia was on the verge of being lost to the community as an affordable housing resource. Read more

PITTSBURGH, PA. - Last year, HUD was set to foreclose on Second East Hills, a very low income apartment community built in the East Hills section in the late 1960s, which at the time was only 30 percent occupied and experiencing an annual turnover rate of 25 percent. Enter Telesis Corp Read more

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. - The city’s most vulnerable seniors, including those transitioning out of homelessness and long-term care, have a place to call home at Mission Creek Senior Community. Read more

PROVO, UTAH - . The Provo City Housing Authority not only saved a historic school from being razed, but also used the property as a catalyst for neighborhood rejuvenation Read more

WASHINGTON, DC. - It seemed like an impossible dream when residents of two of the worst public housing projects started talking about redeveloping their section of Anacostia in this city’s southeastern quadrant. Read more

SAN DIEGO, CA. - Fairbanks Ridge Apartments is an affordable housing development integrated into an upscale master-planned community that includes million-dollar homes. Read more