DOWNTOWN DIGS
OKC seeks to boost supply of affordable housing
As an employee making $11 an hour at downtown restaurant NEBU, John Doyle considers himself fortunate to work for an employer that provides health insurance and a 401(k) retirement plan.
Over the past couple of years, he has been able to buy a used car after relying on public transit for years to get around Oklahoma City. But with rising rents and a rapid loss of older, affordable housing in the urban core, it’s still a stretch for Doyle and his co-workers to make ends meet.
“I make under $23,000,” Doyle said. “My rent is $690 a month for a onebedroom, 650-square-foot apartment.”
Doyle and other service workers downtown say they’re eager to see if promises of affordable housing to be included at a proposed 241-unit, eight-story Boulevard Place apartment tower next to the future Omni Hotel and convention center will provide them with more options close to work.
“That would be a short walk or a ride on the streetcar for me,” Doyle said. It would be great for the folks I know in janitorial and the crew at NEBU.”
Ashley Smith, a partner with Rose Rock Development, which is negotiating a deal with the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority to build Boulevard Place, responds workers like Doyle will likely qualify for renting one of the planned 30 affordable units. Rent will start at $650 for the affordable apartments, while another 40 “efficiency” studio units will rent at $850 a month.
Altering the mix
The mix of affordable housing, along with a day care, was requested by the Urban Renewal Authority as it sought developers for city-controlled property at E.K. Gaylord Boulevard and the Oklahoma City Boulevard. The deal isn’t done; some Urban Renewal commissioners want to see even more affordable apartments as part of the project.
To make that happen, the developers could seek assistance from a new affordable housing fund created as part of general obligation tax bonds approved by voters last September. Currently, the Boulevard Place affordable units are targeted for those making 80 percent to 120 percent of the average median income of $69,400 in the metro.
On Thursday, the city’s Economic Development
Trust approved a set of guidelines drafted by the Oklahoma City Planning Department and presented by Planning Director Aubrey McDermid.
“Oklahoma City does need to establish more affordable housing in our market,” McDermid said. “About 50 percent of our residents are paying more than 50 percent of their income toward housing. Oklahoma City currently builds five affordable units for every 100 existing households that pay that 50 percent or more for housing. There is a gap with affordable housing.”
At the same time, rent is rising, McDermid said. Doyle notes a lot of older affordable housing in the urban core has disappeared in an ongoing wave of redevelopment.
“Speculators are coming in,” Doyle said. “All the old properties in SoSA (Midtown) are being bought out, it’s hitting Classen10-Penn, and it’s bleeding all over. I saw houses just north of Oklahoma City University and those are getting rehabbed for flipping.”
Affordable guidelines
Caleb Savage, a barista at Clarity Coffee, 431 W Main, rents a home in Capitol Hill with his wife, a schoolteacher, and both discovered they are “just above the guidelines” for qualifying for affordable housing. He said one requirement he encountered — that housing be a third of a person’s income — complicates qualifying under the existing affordable housing programs.
“I don’t know anyone living within a mile of the Central Business District who can make it with a third of their income,” Savage said. “At Page Woodson (an old school converted into housing east of downtown), people are trying to go through federal guidelines and they having trouble getting in. My wife and I could not qualify for the lower rate even though we would be the kind of people who would be a good fit for the community.”
McDermid said requirements with the city affordable housing fund will be overseen separately from the federal program with more flexibility when it comes to screening applicants.
The affordable units also must be maintained at the same rent for 20 years.
The guidelines approved Thursday come with other “preferences,” however, that suggest developers use the assistance toward projects that integrate affordable housing into market-rate projects and neighborhoods, that the housing have good access to grocery stores, public transit and quality schools, and that consideration be given toward redeveloping older properties.
The program is a start, McDermid said, but more must be done. The cap for assistance given each year will be $2 million, with a goal of allocating at least $1 million a year.
“The way that this million dollars a year can be used to cover the gap developers need to add affordable housing into a project where otherwise they couldn’t include any affordable units. Over the bond program duration, $10 million is not a lot, especially if you are trying to provide $1 million assistance per year. It’s something never provided before, and that’s great. But it will only get us so far.”
Mostly .07 lower. 4.03-4.86.Davis 4.03; Hooker 4.50; Keyes 4.52; Hobart, Lawton, Temple 4.53; Frederick 4.57; Eldorado, Shattuck 4.58; Buffalo 4.63; Clinton, Weatherford 4.73; Banner 4.76; Alva 4.78; Okeene 4.81; Cherokee 4.82; El Reno, Geary, Manchester, Okarche, Ponca City, Watonga 4.83; Medford 4.85; Perry, Stillwater 4.86; Gulf 5.08 ¼.
MILO (CWT): Mostly .14 lower. 5.00-5.64.Eldorado 5.00; Buffalo 5.18; Hobart, Manchester, Shattuck, Weatherford 5.27; Alva 5.36; Lawton, Medford, Ponca
SOYBEANS (BU): Mostly .07 lower. 7.51-7.91.Shattuck 7.51; Hooker 7.56; Buffalo, Manchester 7.76; Alva 7.81; Medford,Stillwater, Weatherford 7.86; Ponca City 7.91; Gulf 9.15 ¾.
CORN (BU): .08 lower. 3.133.54.Manchester 3.13; Medford, Weatherford 3.18; Ponca City 3.21; Shattuck 3.45; Hooker 3.49; Keyes 3.54; Gulf 4.01 ½. Grade 41, Leaf 4, Staple 34 cotton in southwestern Oklahoma averaged 78.75 cents per pound.
SOURCE: OKLAHOMA DEPT OF AG-USDA MARKET NEWS