Award of Excellence: Oakwood Senior Apartments

摘要

The Housing Authority of the City of Santa Paula (SPHA) wins a 2017 Award of Excellence in Client and Resident Services for the Oakwood Senior Apartments, which expanded the community’s supply of assisted housing by building new independent living senior apartments. Nominated from among the NAHRO Award of Merit winners each year, the Awards of Excellence winners are chosen by national juries and honored at the annual National Conference and Exhibition in October. They represent the very best in innovative programs in assisted housing and community development. Santa Paula is a small agricultural city in California without many opportunities for employment and economic growth for its residents. The area also lacks affordable housing options; since there’s a lack of private developers in the area who can build affordable housing units, the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Paula (SPHA) (http://www.cityofspha.org/) provides most of the area’s affordable housing. Their waitlist has grown to more than 1,300 families and almost 400 senior and/or disabled persons in need of affordable housing assistance. SPHA’s strategy for addressing the housing needs in their community was to apply for available Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV), construct additional affordable housing utilizing the Low- Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), use bond financing and other funds, and partner with local nonprofit organizations to increase Santa Paula’s supply of affordable housing.