Photo: Alyssa Schukar/for NPR.
Chelsea Andrews (white hat), president and executive director of Montgomery County’s Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC), at groundbreaking for the Hillandale Gateway housing development in Maryland. The HOC owns 9,400+ home rental properties and provides subsidized housing for 9,300+ households.
Here’s how communities can build enough housing for residents: Don’t wait for the the feds.
Jennifer Ludden writes at National Public Radio, “A few miles outside Washington, D.C., a large dirt and gravel lot dotted with construction equipment was the site of a recent celebration. … It marked the kickoff for construction of Hillandale Gateway: 463 new mixed-income apartments that will be majority owned by Maryland’s Montgomery County.
“It’s public housing. Although this is a far different model than traditional, federally funded housing for only the very poor. …
“Montgomery County is a wealthy community, and it’s long focused on housing for lower-earning families. Still, it hasn’t built nearly enough to keep up with demand, and the gap is growing. So a few years ago, it took an unusual step: It created a $100 million revolving fund to dramatically ramp up construction.
“That means it can develop and finance its own projects ‘instead of waiting for Congress to give us a whole bunch more money,’ says Zachary Marks, the senior vice president for real estate with the county’s Housing Opportunities Commission. The public agency owns the controlling stake in these apartments.
“Congress has moved away from funding public housing for decades. And while there are federal incentives to help the private market build lower-cost apartments, ‘we’re using them all up every year and it’s not enough,’ Marks says.
“Now, by financing its own construction, the county doesn’t have to rely on private investors, either. Marks and others say that’s a major advantage in a boom-and-bust industry where volatility can stall financing for new projects. With the new housing production fund, he says, the amount of local money needed for a project is pretty small. And the county offers cheaper financing with a lower rate of return than private investors would demand.
“But the mixed-income model is what makes this all work in the long run. The market rate rents ‘come to us instead of flowing out to the private sector,’ says Marks, allowing other tenants to pay less. …
” ‘The people who will be living here are my seniors, my kids, my middle-aged adults, the workforce,’ says Chelsea Andrews, HOC’s president and executive director. ‘This is a community that will be inclusive on all economic levels but also in terms of our diverse communities.’ …
“Hillandale is the second project financed by the county’s fund. The first apartments, The Laureate, opened last year about a half hour’s drive away. …
“The building looks nothing like the image of U.S. public housing, most of which is generations old and severely underfunded. Among other amenities, there’s a full gym with yoga studio, a pet washing room and a courtyard pool.
“[Christina] Cooley says she immediately noticed the pool has a lift at one corner, to lower people with a disability safely into the water. … She says she has a traumatic brain injury and one side of her body is partially paralyzed.
” ‘Living here has changed my life,’ she says.
“Cooley is 43 and works part time as a teacher’s aide, but her main income is from disability. …
“Rents at The Laureate range from about $1,335 for a smaller one-bedroom — far below the county median — to $3,885 for a larger two-bedroom.
“A quarter of the units are for people making up to 50% of the area median income. In Montgomery County, that’s $77,350 for a family of four. An additional 5% of the units are called ‘workforce’ housing, for those who make up to 120% of area median income.
Importantly, says Marks at the housing commission, these apartments will be affordable permanently.
“By contrast, federal tax credits expire and lower-rent housing built with them can revert to market rate after 15 or 30 years.
” ‘There’s been a lot of uptake and interest for this model from jurisdictions of all shapes and sizes around the country,’ says Paul Williams, who heads the Center for Public Enterprise. He founded the group to push for more public development generally, including mixed-income housing financed at the local level. These projects are profitable, he says, and don’t use up other, scarce federal funding. …
“Other places that have considered or taken up the idea — sometimes called social housing, as it’s referred to in Europe — include New York and Massachusetts, as well as Chicago and Chattanooga, Tenn.”
More at NPR, here.
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