 |
Partnership Creates Green and Affordable Housing at Galen Terrace in Washington, D.C.
Photo: Lloyd Wolf |
|
Colorful paint and bright tiger lilies liven up this historic Washington, D.C., neighborhood. Children’s laughter rings from the new community playground. And through partnerships and hard work, residents now enjoy a newly rehabbed, healthy, sustainable place to call home.
Galen Terrace didn’t look like this just a few years ago when the Section 8 housing project was beset with dilapidating conditions. A partnership between the Galen Terrace Tenants Association, Somerset Development Company and the National Housing Trust-Enterprise Preservation Corporation (NHT-Enterprise) created this green affordable housing complex.
And Galen Terrace is just one of many properties totaling more than 4,800 affordable apartments preserved nationwide by NHT-Enterprise.
A joint effort of the National Housing Trust and Enterprise Community Partners, Inc., NHT-Enterprise collaborates with local partners and investors to raise the capital necessary to buy and renovate affordable apartments that are at risk of being converted to market rate or are deteriorating.
“By safeguarding affordable homes, we improve the well-being of the families and seniors who call them home and reinvest in and strengthen neighborhoods,” said Michael Bodaken, president of the National Housing Trust. “We believe this is the essential first step in solving our nation's housing dilemma.”
Up next for NHT-Enterprise is a partnership with Hampstead Development Group to renovate R Street Apartments, another affordable housing complex in Washington, D.C. The complex, 124 affordable apartments in five historic buildings in the Logan Circle neighborhood, will receive significant improvements to remain affordable.
NHT-Enterprise funders include the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Fannie Mae’s Office of Community and Charitable Giving and the Freddie Mac Foundation.
Rural Opportunities Inc. (ROI) identified a need and has been working to meet it since 1969. The regional community development and social services organization provides assistance to farm workers, low-income families and economically depressed neighborhoods throughout New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Vermont and Puerto Rico. This Rochester, N.Y.-based nonprofit has successfully operated a wide array of programs such as adult training and employment, Head Start and other child development programs, supportive services and housing rehabilitation.
“Farm workers and other disenfranchised people live and work with others who often do not understand or support their struggles to achieve economic, social and political equality,” said Stuart Mitchell, ROI president and CEO, and a member of Enterprise’s Network Advisory Board. “At ROI, we affirm the benefit and value of human and cultural diversity in our society and believe in the principles and practice of co-existence and harmony between and among all peoples.”
ROI works within the political and social arenas to advocate for laws, resources and customs that will remove barriers for economically and socially disadvantaged people. In addition, ROI provides many programs and services, serving more than 20,000 people each year. These programs meet a vast array of needs and include migrant Head Start, low-income tax clinics and free tax preparation, youth education and training, property management and real estate development. Find out more about Rural Opportunities, Inc.
When it comes to improving struggling neighborhoods, Cleveland stands as a national model of tenacity and innovation. Now, with support from Neighborhood Progress, Inc., the city is witnessing a major new infusion of community-building energy. “The public-private partnership that led to the formation of Neighborhood Progress in 1989 is more important than ever as Cleveland works to redefine itself in this new global economy while ensuring greater opportunity for all of its citizens,” said Eric Hoddersen, Neighborhood Progress president.
NPI, a nonprofit organization providing financial and technical support to seasoned community development corporations, has led a broad-based effort to restore Cleveland neighborhoods. In the past decade alone, NPI and its local partners have supported predevelopment, built or renovated nearly 5,500 homes and channeled millions of investment dollars into neighborhood development.
NPI also administers a community development corporation collaborative, the Cleveland Neighborhood Partnership Program. Enterprise, with Living Cities and Section IV funding, supports the collaborative. “Enterprise staff works alongside NPI staff to implement the programs funded through the CDC operating collaborative, and to make CDC funding recommendations to NPI's Board,” said Bill Whitney, director of the Enterprise office in Cleveland. “We use our national expertise and resources to assist NPI in its program development and implementation.”
One of NPI’s newest initiatives supporting their mission is the Strategic Investment Initiative. It aims to produce measurable change over the next 10 years in property values, homeownership and occupancy rates, and additional private investment in a select number of Cleveland neighborhoods. "A major reason for NPI's success is due to the fact that the NPI staff is dedicated, experienced, energetic and knows how to get things done," Whitney said. And you can see some of these successes and the work being accomplished for yourself during the Mobile Learning Labs at the 2007 Enterprise Community Conference.
Read more about Neighborhood Progress, Inc., and the Strategic Investment Initiative.
A Community of Friends (ACOF) has been developing housing for homeless individuals and families with special needs in California since 1988, creating permanent supportive housing long before the term was coined.
“By developing affordable housing and collaborating with community-based service agencies to offer residents a variety of onsite supportive services, ACOF is able to provide permanent, stable housing for homeless, disabled and very low-income persons,” said Dora Leong Gallo, CEO or ACOF and vice chair of Enterprise's Network Advisory Board.
In the last 19 years, ACOF has completed nearly 1,200 homes in 31 substantial rehabilitation and new construction properties ranging from seven to 114 units and costing from $600,000 to $14.6 million. ACOF serves as a developer and owner or managing general partner (in tax credit limited partnerships) for properties in Santa Monica and Willowbrook as well as in Pico-Union, Hollywood, Koreatown, North Hills, South Los Angeles and Boyle Heights in the city of Los Angeles. ACOF also has direct involvement in two projects in San Diego and two in Orange County.
And that involvement is nothing short of comprehensive, according to Gallo.
“We cover each project from A to Z,” she said. “We secure all financing, perform community outreach, assemble the project team and manage the project through all phases of development, construction activity and lease-up.”
Additionally, ACOF plays an active, ongoing role in managing its properties including tenant and resident-manager selection, maintenance and preparation of documentation required by investors. Gallo’s staff also plays a vital role in the delivery and coordination of onsite resident services.
A recognized leader in developing permanent supportive housing to homeless individuals and families living with mental illness, ACOF and its programs have been studied and modeled by nonprofit and governmental organizations nationwide. And attendees at last year’s Enterprise Network Conference in Los Angeles saw some of these efforts first-hand as they toured ACOF properties.
In the past several years, ACOF has won awards for its design as well as its programs, including Project of the Year for Special Needs Projects from the Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing; a Metlife Foundation Award for its supportive housing program and an efficiency award from the County of Los Angeles Quality and Productivity Commission.
More exciting housing opportunities worthy of replication are promised. ACOF’s upcoming projects include a 147-unit development for homeless and disabled veterans, a permanent housing project for emancipated foster youth moving out of transitional housing and mixed-use projects along transit corridors providing homes for people with and without special needs. Find out more about ACOF. |
