HDC congratulates Human Solutions for this prestigious honor!

Bestowed by the National Community Development Association in Washington, D.C. , the Audrey Nelson Community Development Achievement Award recognizes projects that make “exemplary use of Community Development Block Grant funds which address the needs of families, homes and neighborhoods.”

HDC provided financial structuring and construction management services for the Rockwood Building, which provides critically needed housing and social services to residents of one of Multnomah County’s poorest neighborhoods. This $16.9 million transit-oriented project, one of the first to break ground in the new Rockwood Urban Renewal Area, was completed last October. View more details here.

 “This project stood out for its very innovative use of funding and mix of key services in one place,” said NCDA Assistant Director Vicki Watson, quoted in a January 25 Oregonian article. “That’s something you don’t see every day, and we consider it a model other communities can learn from.” Read the full Oregonian article here.

Building on the work of Oregon’s Streamlining Compliance Initiative, a report issued by the federal Rental Policy Work Group used data assembled by Housing Development Center to argue for the elimination of redundant physical inspections of federally funded housing projects. (Read the full report here.)

Composed of representatives of the White House Domestic Policy Council (DPC), National Economic Council (NEC), Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Agriculture (USDA), and the Treasury, the Rental Policy Work Group is tasked with better aligning the operation of federal rental policy across agencies. Of 10 policy proposals in the December 31 report, Federal Rental Alignment: Administrative Proposals, the first addresses a primary concern of the Streamlining Compliance Initiative: eliminating redundant physical inspections.

“Today, a property that has multiple Federal funding sources may be subject to multiple physical inspections using multiple physical inspection standards,” the proposal states. “This proposal recommends that various Federal funding sources could reduce the frequency and number of inspections to no more than one Federally-sponsored visit to each property per year.”

The Rental Policy Work Group proposal affirms and magnifies the success of Oregon’s Streamlining Compliance Initiative, says HDC Asset Management Project Manager Emily Schelling. Launched in 2009, the Streamlining Compliance Initiative created a common set of compliance monitoring protocols for 10 agencies that distribute federal CDGB and HOME funds in Oregon—“participating jurisdictions” in federal parlance. Initiated by the Property and Asset Management Working Group and carried out over two years by representatives the 10 funding jurisdictions, the initiative sought to massively reduce costs borne by housing providers and funders for redundant physical inspections, file reviews and financial reports. Rolled out across the state this month, the program is expected to save Oregon’s affordable housing system $4 million per year.

“That this issue is being recognized as a high priority at the federal level shows that we’re working at the vanguard of improving rental housing practices,” says Schelling, one of several Housing Development staff who provided ongoing leadership and support to the statewide streamlining initiative.

The report also indicates that savings to the affordable housing system will greatly compound if the rest of the country follows Oregon’s lead.

“Per industry estimates of the cost of a Federal physical inspection for their properties, at an estimated cost of foregone staff time of $2,000/inspection, costs for 22,546 duplicative inspections could total up to $45 million per year, nationally,” the report states. “By conducting aligned inspections on just LIHTC combined funding properties, savings realized within one year would be up to approximately $24 million.”

The authors cite a Housing Development Center study as its source for the $2,000-per-inspection figure.

Schelling notes that Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS), a key participant in the Streamlining Compliance Initiative, was particularly instrumental in moving the compliance-streamlining issue to the federal agenda. Outreach efforts by OHCS and HDC have already produced concrete results: in November, Oregon became one of eight states to join a HUD-sponsored pilot rollout of a national streamlining initiative. (See the December 21 news post on this page.)

Both locally and nationally, the benefits of these policy reform efforts go beyond saving money, Schelling emphasizes: “With a lighter administrative burden, property managers will be freed up to focus on core work, maintaining buildings and responding to tenant needs. And residents will be spared needless intrusions on their privacy. The result will be a better living environment for low-income residents—in Oregon and, soon, throughout the country.”

For more information about the Streamlining Compliance Initiative, contact Ryan Miller, manager of the Program Compliance Section, Asset & Property Management Division, Oregon Housing and Community Services (503-986-6748); Javier Mena, Program Manager, Asset Management & Loan Servicing, Portland Housing Bureau (503-823-3377); or contact your local HOME participating jurisdiction in Oregon. Questions about the origins of the Streamlining Compliance Initiative may be directed to Emily Schelling, Project Manager, Asset Management Program, Housing Development Center (503-335-3668).

HDC Special Projects Manager Carolyn O’Doherty is taking on a new project: getting the word out that the HDC Community Fund has capital it wants to lend.

“Our loan pool is twice the size it was last year, thanks to a $500,000 grant we received last July from the U.S. Treasury,” O’Doherty says. “We want to get that money moving forward projects in the community.”

A certified Community Development Financial Institution founded in 2009, the HDC Community Fund provides loans for property developments that serve low-income individuals and communities. To meet the unique needs of its market, the fund offers flexible payment terms, low interest rates and quick turnarounds. Loans support early, urgent and difficult-to-fund development costs, such as feasibility studies and property acquisition. They can also be used to bridge gaps in construction financing for up to three years.

Past loans from the HDC Community Fund have helped build 163 units of affordable housing and 25,000 square feet of service facility space since 2009, leveraging $38.4 million in permanent financing. Projects include Cascade Meadows, Hood River’s first affordable senior housing project, and the Rockwood Building, a mixed-use housing and multiservice center in Gresham.

With credit markets tight, O’Doherty wants not-for-profit organizations developing or preserving community facilities and affordable housing to know that for qualifying borrowers, the HDC Community Fund offers an alternative to conventional lending programs.

“We lend to public housing authorities, nonprofit housing developers, social service agencies and other nonprofits,” O’Doherty says. “If an organization is developing a property that serves low-income people, and it’s based in Oregon or southwest Washington, we may be able to help.” Projects must be located in one of 17 Oregon counties or three Washington counties; a map of eligible counties will soon be available on HDC’s web site.

O’Doherty adds, “And since we recently boosted our maximum loan size from $200,000 to $250,000, we can help more than ever.”

For more information, contact Carolyn O’Doherty, HDC Community Fund program development manager, at carolyn@housingdevelopmentcenter.org or 503-528-5186; or Daryn Murphy, HDC Community Fund underwriter, at daryn@housingdevelopmentcenter.org or 503-528-5183.