Funds OK’d for affordable homes in 3 neighborhoods

The Urban Redevelopment Authority board voted Thursday to fund renovations to 10 affordable homes in Lawrenceville, Oakland and the Hill District.

All three projects will receive at least some of their funding from the Housing Opportunity Fund, a pool of money allocated by the URA for affordable housing. The fund was created in 2016, and the funding method was approved in 2017, using a controversial increase in the city’s realty transfer tax, which began last year. The city has committed to provide $10 million to the fund per year for 12 years.

At the URA monthly meeting on Thursday, the Hill Community Development Corp. received an $85,000 grant and a $50,000 deferred mortgage agreement from the fund to buy, renovate and sell two homes on Mahon Street and Landleiss Place in the Hill District. The group hopes to sell the homes for $110,000 to $120,000 each.

The Lawrenceville and Oakland projects both adopt a community land trust model, an alternate model for affordable housing that the board says community members have been pushing the URA to fund.

Under a community land trust, buyers purchase a house outright but lease the land beneath it from the trust. When they decide to move out, they sell their house at a price set by the trust, ensuring the house remains permanently affordable and preventing it from becoming a rental property so that future residents build equity as homeowners.

The Oakland Planning and Development Corp. received a $140,000 Housing Opportunity Fund grant and an additional $20,000 grant to renovate two houses on Parkview Avenue and Robinson Street. The corporation anticipates a sale price of around $140,000 for the houses, and the houses will be resold in the future at or below 80% of the area median income under the land trust.

The Lawrenceville Corp. and the City of Bridges Community Land Trust have teamed up to renovate six single-family homes in the neighborhood. The URA board approved a $150,750 loan and two grants totaling $625,000 for the project.

The group hopes to sell five of the homes for about $127,000 each and one at about $142,000.

Ed Nusser, real estate director for City of Bridges Community Land Trust, said there have been about 200 applications for the new units. He added that the group hopes to prioritize those facing housing insecurity and first-time homebuyers in the applicant pool.

“We transition [buyers] from renting, where they’re losing money on a monthly basis, into home ownership, where they can build some equity with the land trust model, and with our public funding, still ensure that a house that is affordable the first time is affordable the second time, and the third time, and the fourth time,” Mr. Nusser said.