Plans are being drawn to build six subsidized single-family houses in Little Rock with federal Department of Housing and Urban Development money.
HUD's Home Investment Partnerships program requires a city to allocate 15 percent of the funding it receives to certified community development housing organizations. Better Community Developers and the University District Development Corp. are two such organizations in Little Rock.
If the Little Rock Board of Directors approves the groups' funding requests Tuesday, the city will give each nonprofit $400,000 to build single-family houses in their respective districts. The houses will be sold to qualified applicants.
"This helps those individuals who are marginal, who are on the cuffs," said Barrett Allen, a program officer with the University District organization. "They may have a steady income but not enough money for a down payment."
"It also seeks to identify those individuals who may be right there in terms of qualifying for a mortgage at the bank but need a little more assistance," Allen added. "They have stable rent history and pay their bills on time but may need a little more help to get over that hump."
Three homes to be built in the University District, generally defined as the area surrounding the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, will range from 1,200 to 1,425 square feet.
The three homes to be built by Better Community Developers -- whose district is the midtown area bordered by Markham Street to the north and Fourche Creek to the south -- will range from 1,200 to 1,350 square feet.
At a recent agenda meeting held in preparation for Tuesday's board meeting, Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola emphasized the importance of building the houses near one another to focus on an entire neighborhood or block rather than scattered areas.
Allen said Friday that the University District's goal has been to place its housing projects together. Two of the homes are planned side by side, and the other is across the street. Also adjacent to the properties is a fair market rate house that the nonprofit built. Sidewalk repair has been completed in the area with money from a federal Safe Route to School grant and a city block grant.
"We try to stay contiguous when at all possible to maximize the impact," Allen said. "What we anticipate will happen is that other [property] owners will see what we are doing on the block. ... We are looking at comprehensive development. We want to actually revitalize a neighborhood. That's our purpose."
A person must be a first-time homebuyer and have an annual income that is not greater than 80 percent of the area's median income to qualify for one of the six houses built with HUD funding. A first-time buyer is defined as someone who has not financed a home within the past three years.
To meet the income requirements for the HUD-defined Little Rock/North Little Rock/Conway metropolitan area, a single person household must make $33,700 or less. A four-person household must make $48,100 or less to meet the threshold.
More information is available under the "First-Time Homebuyer Program" tab of the University District's website, uddclittlerock.org, or under the "Our Programs" tab on the Better Community Developers website, bcdinc.org.
The city has been funneling HUD funding to Better Community Developers since 2000. From then until 2008, the housing development organization had received $902,403 to complete 32 units. It has sold 31 of those.
The University District Development Corp. received $200,000 in HUD funding through the city in 2009 and rehabilitated three houses. It currently has one of those unsold.
About 75 percent of the Home Investment Partnership program money that the city receives is used to rehabilitate houses already owned by residents. Ten percent is used for administration costs to operate the program, and the remaining 15 percent is allocated to the housing-development groups.
Andre Bernard, Little Rock's director of Housing and Neighborhood Programs, said the HUD program encourages partnerships between housing development organizations and local government, which he said is critical to the revitalization of communities and development of affordable places for families.
"Many times, municipalities have a variety of activities going on in communities and having partners assist with community development is a great way to engage those organizations that exist and serve blighted communities," Bernard said.
Metro on 05/18/2014