Nearly 300 Housing Authority of Texarkana, Texas, units will get upgrades in a $34 million-plus conversion to affordable housing dwellings, an official said.
This five-site, $34.68 million recapitalization effort program will change the housing authority's business model from low-income housing to one offering affordable housing, according to Antonio Williams, the housing authority's CEO.
Williams said funding for low-income public housing started in the 1930s with President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and included structures that looked like old military barracks or institutions rather than affordable, aesthetically-appealing homes.
"That program has never worked. It recycled poverty and hopelessness. We are transitioning away from that program into a more viable and useful project model," Williams said Thursday.
The five local housing authority sites that will be targeted for the $34 million-plus Rental Assistance Demonstrations program include: Bright Street, Hampton Homes, Williams Homes and Robison Terrace, all primarily off the Robison Road corridor between New Boston Road and West Seventh Street.
The fifth site is actually several scattered sites that will be considered as one site, Williams said. The scattered sites are on Akins, Allen, Wood and Pine streets, she said.
Exterior and interior upgrades, including new flooring, new appliances and roofs will be made to the 294 units at these sites.
Work should be complete in the next 15 to 20 months.
Two years ago, the housing authority converted 98 low-income housing units to the Rental Assistance Demonstrations program, making this current venture Phase Two.
Williams said residents currently occupy the sites slated for remodels, but they will be relocated so the Rental Assistance Demonstrations work can go forward. Residents will move back in when the upgrades are complete.
Williams says the trend is public housing ventures receiving less money each year with funding increasing for ventures such as the Rental Assistance Demonstrations.
The rental assistance project involves several different agencies and will be voucher-based.
"In its simplest form, it allows public housing authorities access to private debt and equity to rehabilitate these projects. Properties converting to rental assistance demonstrations receive a long-term Section-8 contract," the housing authority press release states.
The program addresses the outstanding capital needs of public housing developments and preserves those developments as a long-term source of affordable housing, according to Williams.
Financing for the project consists of:
- $10.79 million in tax credit equity through the purchase of 4 % low-income housing tax credits by Hunt Capital Partners, LLC,
- $20 million in private-activity bonds issued by the authority and purchased by Citi Community Capital. Of that, $11 million will remain outstanding as long-term permanent debt,
- and $11.02 million in seller and subordinate financing provided by the housing authority.
The venture puts the housing authority in partnership with Texarkana Public Facility Corporation a local affordable housing consulting firm, to conduct this second phase of rental assistance demonstrations. The corporation was created by the housing authority to assist in offering affordable housing programs, activities and other services.
Williams said this $34 million-plus deal is the latest milestone in HATT's revitalization strategy to continue to pursue new and innovative affordable housing solutions both in Texarkana and beyond.
"I would like to thank my HATT team and our development partners in the successful closing of this transaction, which will both ensure the revitalization of the physical structures involved as well as improve quality of life for the families who live in our great city," Williams states in the press release.