2010 Highlights
Goal 1: The Built Environment
Statistics:
- 277,000 Affordable Homes & Apartments
- $8.1 Billion Low-Income Housing Tax Credits
Invested Through the National Equity Fund, Inc. - 831,000 People Living in New Affordable Homes
Physical redevelopment, especially as regards affordable housing, is fundamental to the recovery of places stung by years of disinvestment and decline. New construction and preservation efforts eliminate vacant, blighted properties and clean up environmentally contaminated land. They create quality, affordable homes that root families, and—by putting rents and mortgages within their reach—ensure they have more disposable income to spend on local goods and services. A more stable residential base supports growing neighborhood businesses, and a better physical environment helps drive neighborhood safety while attracting additional private investment.
The built environment is critical to a healthy Sustainable Community. It is the most visible evidence of new growth and opportunity, and it fuels wider related gains that have a lasting impact.
Tassafaronga Village
A new green affordable housing project is helping transforming an entire community in East Oakland. LISC and our affiliate, The National Equity Fund, provided $25.3 million in equity financing through Low Income Housing Tax Credits to create Tassafaronga Village.
Situated in a previously underserved neighborhood, Tassafaronga offers residents safe and affordable housing surrounded by pocket parks, green pathways, and open spaces. The project includes 157 affordable apartment homes, 22 townhomes, and the adaptive reuse of a nearby defunct pasta factory into 20 artists studios, along with a medical clinic that offers health care to area residents living with HIV/AIDS. Bay Area LISC’s partnership with the Oakland Housing Authority extends to making the housing greener and healthier. Tassafaronga is certified LEED-ND Gold for its green building measures including its use of solar power for electricity and hot water; and its integrated approach to neighborhood design.
Tassafaronga Village is not just attractive affordable housing. It is Building Sustainable Communities by more broadly helping reinforce efforts surrounding healthy living. It connects to a safer, more vibrant streetscape that replaces decaying buildings with dynamic, productive space.
Nicollet Square
The number of homeless youth in Minnesota has increased 46 percent since 2006, while the number of available beds at shelters has stayed the same.
Twin Cities LISC and partner organization, Plymouth Church Neighborhood Foundation (PCNF), are helping correct that imbalance with the completion of Nicollet Square, which provides permanent, supportive housing for teens and young adults (ages 16-21) exiting homelessness and aging out of foster care. Twin Cities LISC provided PCNF with a $336,000 loan to help fund the 42-studio-apartment complex.
Nicollet Square is itself a multi-faceted community—providing a variety of critical services and opportunities under one roof, while at the same time contributing to the health of the surrounding neighborhood. Full-time, on-site advisors help the young residents adjust to their new living arrangements. Employment services teach interviewing and networking skills and connect them to employment opportunities. Indeed, with 5,000 square feet of space dedicated to community programs and events, and an equal amount for retail space, it is likely that some of the residents will be working on site as well.
That is, in fact, what Building Sustainable Communities is and does. It connects quality affordable housing to economic development and jobs. It supports the health and well-being of local residents. It underpins lasting, sustainable opportunity and change.
Mayfair Village
LISC and our affiliate, The National Equity Fund, provided nearly $8.5 million to completely restore Mayfair Village, transforming the 60-year old apartment complex in Jacksonville’s Southside into 42 affordable homes for low-income and homeless families and individuals. A $2 million LISC bridge loan enabled Ability Housing of Northeast Florida, Inc. to buy the property to preserve its affordability. And $6.4 million in equity provided through NEF is redeveloping the project to like-new condition with modern amenities.
Like so much of LISC’s Building Sustainable Communities work, it connects housing with convenient access to public transportation to local employment opportunities and nearby retail. The project provides more than just housing, it infuses millions of dollars into the local economy; is creating or preserving 250 jobs; and is ensuring residents can enjoy a walkable community that connects them to the goods and services they need.
