Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Affordable Housing Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Charleston Redevelopment Corporation highlights loans, land trust and leveraged financing in annual affordable-housing update
Summary
Jonathan Oakman, chairman of the Charleston Redevelopment Corporation board, told the Community Development Committee that CRC has deployed public financing to produce and preserve affordable housing and is pursuing additional funding and partnerships.
Jonathan Oakman, chairman of the Charleston Redevelopment Corporation board, told the committee that creating affordable housing is difficult in the current market and outlined CRC activities including development, lending and property acquisition to preserve affordability.
Oakman said the CRC has delivered single-family and multifamily affordable units, purchased two apartment complexes to prevent rent reversion and leveraged public financing: "since our inception, we've put $26,000,000 of financing from public sources directly to work. We've leveraged $130,000,000 additional dollars from private sources for affordable housing," he said.
Board member April Wood described the Common Cause Loan Fund, a collaboration between the CRC and Historic Charleston Foundation that provides exterior-repair loans to long-term homeowners in the 20–60% AMI range; the loans require clear title and participation in financial-coaching and are partially forgiven after seven years. Wood said CRC and HCF each invested $275,000 and that the program recently received a notice of award for a HUD EDI CPF grant of $1,250,000 pending final agreement.
CRC executive director FA Johnson summarized the organization's financial performance with the city: the CRC said it has expended about $9.2 million of a $10 million contract with the city and leveraged roughly $16.7 million in additional private and public funding for a total of $26 million in development activity tied to that contract; CRC described its practice of revolving proceeds from sales into new affordable projects.
Committee members thanked CRC for the update and asked clarifying questions about the Palmetto Community Land Trust and next steps; Oakman and Johnson said the land trust keeps properties permanently affordable and that CRC's CDFI application and other outside funding efforts aim to expand acquisition and lending capacity.
The presentation did not produce committee action; it was an informational update to the committee.
