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| Richard Gross, Vice President and Impact Market Leader, Northern California |
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Jeffrey Schaffer, Vice President and Impact Market Leader, Los Angeles
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The effects of this recession can be seen throughout the affordable housing and community development field. The state of California, and its cities and counties have all reduced funding in order to meet budget crises. Housing developments are stalled and the fees that many of our developers depend on are delayed. But our partners are strong and committed to their communities and residents. They share a mutual goal: to provide the highest quality housing possible for those at the lowest levels of the economic spectrum.
Across Enterprise, we have been exploring creative ways we can bring resources and support to our partners, and the affordable housing industry as a whole. As the economy has languished we have grown our Partner Support Program, both in Los Angeles and in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our goal is to provide assistance, strengthen capacity and better position our partners throughout the state (and country) to continue to do the work they do. This is manifesting itself through strategic grants and loans to partners and the provision of highly personalized technical assistance. We know that we can’t do our work at Enterprise without our local partners.
Specific examples of our work on this front, include our efforts in the Bay Area to help Eden Housing and Tenderloin Neighborhood Housing Development Corporation take over the Citizens Housing properties as Citizens winds down its operations. A key element of this plan is that 100 percent of the affordable units will be preserved.
In Los Angeles, with support from the City of Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency and the MacArthur Foundation, we are providing capacity building support for Skid Row Housing Trust and SRO Housing Corporation so that they can play a greater role in preserving some of the large, downtown SROs as a valuable affordable housing resource.
We are also working toward greening the older affordable housing stock across the nation and in particular in California. In the Bay Area we have completed the analysis of 15 projects and are working to structure a loan program based on the energy savings from retrofit improvements. In Los Angeles, we are following in the Bay Area’s footsteps, moving forward with energy audits while at the same time we meet with local government and public and private utilities to enlist their support for green retrofit work.
Enterprise continues to work tirelessly to reform the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program to make it work in this crisis period. Through the A.C.T.I.O.N. campaign we are fighting to extend the 9 percent exchange program and to extend it to 4 percent tax credit projects. At the moment, prospects are good for this important reform. Enterprise Vice President Jeff Schaffer spent a week in Washington, D.C., in March as part of the ACCESS D.C. delegation, meeting with legislators and their staff and administration officials about the A.C.T.I.O.N. campaign and other issues.
We are proud of the work we’re doing but more proud of being a part of a movement to provide affordable housing to all who need it. And on behalf of the communities we serve, we thank you for all that you have done to support this effort, both locally and throughout the nation.
Sincerely,
Richard Gross,
Vice President and Impact Market Leader, Northern California
Jeffrey Schaffer,
Vice President and Impact Market Leader, Los Angeles
The premier green business policy event of the year has nearly arrived! The Los Angeles Business Council will hold its annual Sustainability Summit on April 6, 2010 from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Getty’s Harold M. Williams Auditorium.
Featured and invited speakers include:
- Lisa Jackson,
Administrator, US Environmental Protection Agency
- The Honorable Jerry Brown,
California Attorney General
- The Honorable Alex Padilla,
California State Senate
- The Honorable Antonio Villaraigosa,
Mayor, City of Los Angeles
- Honorable Eric Garcetti,
President, Los Angeles City Council
- Elon Musk,
Founder and Chairman, Tesla Motors
- Laura Lee Martin,
Vice President and CFO, Jones Lang LaSalle
- Scott Lyle,
Senior Vice President of Operations, GE/Arden Realty, Inc.
- Kevin Ratner,
President, Forest City Residential West
- Pedro Pizarro,
Executive Vice President of Power Operations, Southern California Edison
- Joseph Pettus,
Senior Vice President of Fuel and Energy, Safeway, Inc.
- Bill Black,
Director, Strategic Solutions, Haworth, Inc.
- Tom Unterman,
Founder and Managing Partners, Rustic Canyon Partners
- Adam Werbach,
Global Chief Executive Officer, Saatchi & Saatchi S
To become a sponsor or receive more information, e-mail Leilani Sinclair or call 818.715.1128.
Enterprise Green Communities is expanding its certification program for housing developments that are both affordable and green. Enterprise will now recognize developments that meet the Green Communities Criteria even if they do not receive grant funding or other support from Enterprise.
Under the expanded Enterprise Green Communities program, all types of affordable housing developments are eligible to apply for certification. Developments that successfully receive certification will be recognized on the Enterprise Green Communities website and will receive a plaque when construction is completed. No fee will be charged for this service through 2010. An advisory committee will inform the refinement of this process over the coming year.
Read more about the Enterprise Green Communities Criteria.
A Wells Fargo grant to the United Way, intended to help curtail the adverse impact of the economic crisis on affordable housing, is available for Los Angeles County affordable housing developers in need of core operating support.
Funds will be awarded to eligible nonprofit organizations as single-year grants ranging from $10,000-$50,000. These organizations will be developing permanent affordable housing (including permanent supportive housing) for households with low and moderate incomes.
Find out about the RFP and apply at the United Way of Greater LA.
Deadline: April 9, 2010 at 5 p.m.
Restore Neighborhoods Los Angles (RNLA) is a not for profit holding and development corporation formed by Enterprise Community Partners in collaboration with the Los Angeles City Housing Department (LAHD). RNLA will use Neighborhood Stabilization (NSP) funds received from the federal government to purchase foreclosed or abandoned properties for occupancy by low-income buyers and renters. Enterprise facilitated the start-up of RNLA and provided loans and grant funding in its early months; Enterprise Vice President and Los Angeles Impact Market Leader Jeff Schaffer is Board President.
RNLA is working in collaboration with the newly formed National Community Stabilization Trust (NCST) to acquire foreclosed properties from lending institutions. NCST provides an efficient mechanism for transferring foreclosed properties from lenders and servicers to local programs working to stabilize communities from the impact of foreclosures. Working with NCST, RNLA is acquiring foreclosed properties at discounted prices consistent with HUD guidelines.
In the two rounds of NSP funding, the City of Los Angeles has been awarded $132.8 million for its foreclosure programs to be spent over the next three years. RNLA will purchase and rehabilitate both single family homes and multifamily properties. Single family homes will be sold directly to eligible homebuyers (with incomes at or below 120 percent AMI); multifamily properties will be clustered and offered for sale to developers with demonstrated experience and capacity to operate them as affordable rental housing. At least one quarter of the total allocation of NSP funds must be targeted to families or individuals earning at 50 percent or below the area median income.
To stabilize and improve neighborhoods, RNLA will acquire properties that have proven difficult to sell on the private market due to their location or physical condition. These properties will likely require significantly more rehabilitation than the properties purchased by individual homebuyers. Enterprise has further partnered with LAHD to develop green rehab specs for RNLA, with the goal of rehabilitating these properties to Enterprise’s Green Communities standards.
To date, RNLA has purchased 25 single family homes, has 12 properties prepared for a closing, and 16 additional properties in the acquisition pipeline.
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| To stabilize and improve neighborhoods, RNLA acquires and renovates properties that have been difficult to sell because of their location and/or physical condition. |
The availability of affordable housing has reduced the number of homeless individuals in Los Angeles, from 93,000 in 1990 to 72,000 today. California’s Multifamily Housing Program (MHP) helped to create those key affordable homes, funding both permanent and short-term housing statewide.
As a result of the recent economic downturn, however, California’s ability to sell bonds has been constrained. Since funding for MHP programs is generated by bond sales, the California Department of Housing and Community Development’s ability to make any further MHP commitments is limited. Additionally, California has frozen all state program funds until a revised budget is approved. Together, these problems have delayed the previously committed allocation of $650 million for affordable housing projects in California.
Enterprise has been actively working with local and regional advocacy groups, and meeting with state legislators to draw attention to the need for a strategic plan for California to meet its MHP commitments. As the deficit swells and affordable housing competes for available funds, Enterprise is working to keep affordable housing at the forefront.
MHP has long been a permanent debt source for affordable housing, and in recent years has been the conduit for dissemination of Proposition 46 and 1C bond funds, with the proceeds flowing through the Pooled Money Investment Board into loans issued by the California Department of Housing and Community Development. MHP also assists in the construction, rehabilitation and preservation of permanent and transitional rental housing for lower income households. Funds are made available as deferred payment loans with a term of 55 years and 3 percent simple interest on unpaid principal balance (and a 0.42 percent monitoring fee). Applications are invited through the issuance of Notices of Funding Availability.
Acquiring foreclosed homes or Real Estate Owned (REO) properties with funding from the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) is a significant challenge for local jurisdictions and partners. To address this challenge, Enterprise worked with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, NeighborWorks America, Housing Partnership Network, National Council of La Raza and the National Urban League to establish the National Community Stabilization Trust (NCST). It facilitates the transfer of REO properties from lenders and servicers to local programs.
One major NCST participation criterion is the capacity to acquire properties “at scale.” Smaller jurisdictions like those in the East Bay area were unable to meet that criterion by themselves. In 2009, Enterprise brought these entities together so they can participate in the Trust’s First Look and Bulk Purchase Programs. Bridge Housing, Hearts and Hands, Habitat for Humanity East Bay and CHDC of North Richmond have entered into agreements that allow their partner, Hallmark Community Solutions, to acquire REO properties on their behalf.
These groups are also developing shared branding and marketing efforts to sell homes purchased with NSP funding. With Enterprise’s support, HCS is assembling the funds and convening a working group of participants to develop solid communications tools.
Enterprise recently completed a $4.4 million Low-Income Housing Tax-Credit equity investment for Greenleaf Apartments. The new, 20-home development will be located in Anaheim, Calif. The development will offer two and three bedroom apartments that will be affordable for families earning between 30 and 60 percent of the area median income. This is Enterprise’s fourth tax credit syndication project with sponsor and developer Jamboree Housing Corporation.
The property will have a community room, a tot lot and play area, and a computer training room. Housing with Heart, Jamboree’s social services organization, will offer services for residents, including an after school program.
The development has been designed with green features including an energy-efficient design, solar panels, bathroom exhaust fans and ranges that vent to the exterior, and low-VOC carpeting and adhesives.
Architectural work is being performed by Advent Design Group. The general contractor is Advent Companies, and the property manager is John Stewart Company. Construction began in February and will be completed in later this year.
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| Theresa Hwang |
Theresa Hwang has joined the Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellowship, a three-year program that couples young designers with community development organizations. Theresa is working with the Los Angeles-based Skid Row Housing Trust (SRHT) to help provide quality green affordable housing and local solutions for the residents of Skid Row and beyond.
"SRHT has a long history of combining affordable supportive housing with inspiration and sustainable design," said Mike Alvidrez, executive director of SRHT. "Having Theresa as part of our community - both in and outside of the office - affords us the skills of a designer who is in sync with our mission and our goals."
As part of her fellowship at SRHT, Theresa currently is working a few days a week in the offices of famed architect Michael Maltzan on the upcoming property, the Star Apartments.
In February, YWCA Greater Los Angeles (YWCA GLA) hosted a construction celebration to thank the groups that contributed to the success of the YWCA GLA's Job Corps Urban Campus building in downtown Los Angeles. A capacity crowd of students, elected officials, corporate partners and friends attended.
The Urban Campus building received an $82 million stimulus grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, which will fund a 20-year lease agreement for the new building. The project also leveraged $70 million in New Market Tax Credits toward the project's construction costs, provided by Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Enterprise, Local Initiatives Support Corporation and the Los Angeles Development Fund (managed by the Community Redevelopment Agency of the city of Los Angeles).
The project will produce more than 900 jobs, including 60 dedicated to training students on the construction of the new building. The campus will benefit the Los Angeles Job Corps center and the population served. LAJC provides residential and non-residential programming at no cost to homeless, emancipated and at-risk youth ages 16 to 24. Currently, 735 participants are served daily, of which 380 are residents.
"As part of our $700 million commitment to the city of Los Angeles,” Enterprise Vice President and Los Angeles Impact Market Leader Jeff Schaffer said at the event, “Enterprise is pleased to help finance this state-of-the-art facility that will offer much-needed services, training and homes to at-risk youth. Our mission is to help people to move up and out of poverty, and the YWCA Job Corps training program gives young people valuable tools and the housing needed to make that happen."
One very important component of HOPE SF, the bold initiative to transform San Francisco’s most distressed public housing, is building “human capital.” Creating thriving, sustainable, mixed-income communities takes many people, and programs like the two-year-old HOPE SF Leadership Academy helps engage everyone.
The HOPE SF Leadership Academy is a class where residents learn about the revitalization process and gain leadership skills. Enterprise co-teaches the class, coordinates the curriculum and tours, and provides additional resources that ensure the academy’s success. Participants increase their involvement in community meetings, resident council elections and revitalization planning and employment opportunities. Academy alumni empower their neighbors with the knowledge and understanding of the revitalization process.
One graduate of the program said, “The academy makes you feel more important. You realize: ‘This is my community and there is something I can do to change it. The only voice not listened to is the one not being heard.’”
Another exciting program is the brand new HOPE SF Youth Leadership Academy. It engages young residents in the HOPE SF revitalization process through activities, leadership classes, tours and internships. With support from Citi, Enterprise brought in the UC Berkeley’s Center for Cities and Schools as a key partner and leader for these youngsters.
Enterprise looks forward to each semester of both levels of the academy. The next round of classes starts in March.
Late last year, Enterprise closed its second regional low-income housing tax credit fund supporting projects that incorporate components of the Enterprise Green Communities Criteria. The $60 million fund includes developments in California, Oregon and Washington state.
The housing serves a wide variety of populations. In Los Angeles, residents are families who have been affected by HIV/AIDS. In Oregon, residents are formerly homeless and/or with mental health issues, and Federal Way, Wash., residents are seniors.
The fund's five regional and national investors – two that are new to Enterprise – receive Community Reinvestment Act credit in addition to a very competitive economic return. All eight of the developments received funds through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) industry, of which Enterprise is a leader.
In 2009, Enterprise raised and invested more than $300 million in LIHTC nationally. We work closely with developers to select strong projects that will serve low-income populations. Our national asset management staff watch operational, financial and physical elements of the housing market to ensure that projects meet all the criteria necessary over the 15-year compliance period. Enterprise's conservative business strategy, proactive asset management and experience in the community development industry have earned us a solidly performing portfolio and national respect and recognition.
To learn more about Enterprise’s tax credit equity funds, contact Robin Hyerstay at 213.787.8216.
The State Energy Program’s $3 million award will help scale the green retrofitting of affordable multifamily housing. The funding will provide capital for technical assistance associated with retrofitting and for a revolving retrofit loan fund jointly administered by Enterprise and the Low-Income Investment Fund. The program is sponsored by the city of San Francisco. Oakland and Berkeley have also signed on.
Developments in other jurisdictions may have an opportunity to participate. Program guidelines are still being written, but will closely match the Enterprise Green Retrofit Pilot program.
To date, the Enterprise Green Retrofit Pilot has completed five green capital needs assessments. Here are the preliminary findings:
- Average Cost of Energy Measures: $6,000 per home
- Average Cost of Water Measures: $7,000 per home
- Energy Savings: 30% over existing conditions
- Amount of Debt that Savings Can Service: $1,500 - $1,600 per home
The energy efficiency and water conservation measures commonly recommended by these reports are window replacements, lighting upgrades, improved boiler and domestic hot water systems, and other low-cost upgrades.
Enterprise will complete 10 more green capital needs assessments later this spring. With the new State Energy Program funding, and the strength of partners our partners, many more properties will undergo energy and water performance improvements in 2010.
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