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Council conditionally commits HOME funds to two affordable housing projects after review by Affordable Housing Review Board
Summary
The council approved conditional HOME program financing commitments for two low-income housing tax credit projects: Arc River Residences (42 units) and 212 North Market (68 units). Both approvals require developers to secure LIHTC equity and meet the terms of the city's conditional commitments before funding is finalized.
The Wichita City Council on May 6 authorized the director of Housing and Community Services to issue conditional HOME commitments to two affordable housing projects that seek low-income housing tax credits.
Arc River Residences, proposed by Commonwealth Development Corporation of America, is a 42-unit family development at 5136 S. Broadway intended to serve households at multiple area median income (AMI) tiers (30% to 60% AMI). Commonwealth said the project would request approximately $420,000 in HOME funds and that the HOME commitment would provide points and leverage in the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation (KHRC) LIHTC scoring. Commonwealth indicated the development team expects a short lease-up and proposed a memorandum of understanding with a nonprofit service provider to serve a small share of units for households with physical or mental-health support needs.
The council also approved a conditional HOME commitment of $680,000 for 212 North Market, a proposed adaptive-reuse conversion of the historic Elks Lodge into 68 affordable rental units in the downtown central business district. Mennonite Housing is listed as an equity partner and proposed manager for the 212 North Market project. 2 12 North Market LLC described a financing package that relies heavily on federal and state LIHTC equity, federal historic tax credits and private equity; the project's estimated total cost is approximately $19.8 million.
Housing staff said both applications had been reviewed by the city's Affordable Housing Review Board, which recommended that city staff refer the projects to council for conditional HOME commitments pending the projects' success in the state LIHTC round and full satisfaction of conditions set in the conditional commitment letters. The council approved both conditional commitments and authorized the director of Housing and Community Services to sign the commitment letters. The loans are structured under HOME/Housing Development Loan Program terms that generally require repayment only from positive cash flow; staff said HOME HDLP loans typically carry low interest and may be deferred during the affordability period if project cash flow cannot support immediate repayment.
Council members asked project teams and staff about unit rents, AMI targeting, timelines and how the HOME commitment affects competitiveness in the KHRC LIHTC process. Council member Brandon Johnson declared a personal conflict and abstained on both votes where he said his conflict applied; on both agenda items the council noted the abstention(s) in the roll call.
The conditional commitments are subject to execution of funding agreements approved as to form by the Law Department and contingent on the projects securing the proposed LIHTC and other financing sources.
