Rehabilitating Properties to Build a Community

摘要

Fort Collins is a fast-growing community where the median sale price for a single-family home is over $4.00,000. Due to the high purchase prices, more people are renting, tightening the rental market and driving up the cost of rent. Local incomes have not increased with housing costs. In 2012, 285 apartments of affordable housing were at risk of being sold in the private housing market, which represented 15 percent of the city's Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) affordable housing stock. The residential properties were constructed between 1991-1995 and in need of renovation and repair. Housing Catalyst preserved the portfolio of 285 affordable apartment homes, now named Village on Shields, by purchasing and rehabilitating them. This $67.8 million project was the largest affordable housing preservation project ever attempted in Larimer County's history; it required a complex funding structure that was almost derailed when the 2016 election caused a 16 percent drop in tax credit equity pricing, creating a funding gap of more than $3 million.