Creative Funding Sources
As the affordable housing crisis continues to be a focal point , more funding sources and support are becoming available , but it does take effort and time to identify and secure them . Some of the readily available sources include : federal tax credits , state programs , local level programs and grants . Most affordable housing projects we ’ re involved with are funded by multiple sources , including some private investors .
Overcoming Obstacles
Smart Site Selection
Finding the best site to build on is a critical first step in developing and building an affordable housing community . Doing so will help to avoid delays and costs associated with the entitlement process . For example , the land should have ready access to existing municipal services so nothing new needs to be installed or accounted for ( urban infill sites are ideal for this requirement ). The land itself should have a level topography ( no sloping ) to avoid unnecessary design and construction challenges . It should also have good , clean soil ( without any brownfield contamination that would need to be excavated and hauled away ). Proper
drainage is also key to avoid costly issues with ground water and flooding .
Proper Scale
An affordable housing development can more easily attain its goals ( in terms of development , design and construction costs , as well as the pricing of homes ) with larger projects providing in the range of 80120 units . Projects can achieve economies of scale by increasing production efficiently and spreading the costs over a larger number of repeatable units . Also , a good site can also yield better results when less of the budget needs to be spent on horizontal construction , such as utilities , site access , and grading .
Unfortunately , there is still some NIMBY ( Not in my backyard ) pushback to affordable housing development . There are also examples of residential developers , often targeted as entities only interested in makingabuck , who want to include quality affordable housing options in their overall development plan , but are stalled due to public resentment and barriers to getting projects approved . In our experience , robust community engagement and outreach can make the difference in a project that gets built and one that fails .
With increased costs and higher interest rates , stagnant salaries and weaker earning power within family units , and inflation affecting everyone ’ s budgets , affordable housing is an evergrowing need in modern society . It is a need that must be addressed by identifying the most efficient ways to develop , design and build housing that people can afford . A “ we ’ re all in this together ” mindset by all stakeholders is necessary to bring more housing to fruition .
MEET KRISTEN UITTO
Kristen is the Principal Architect of Caddis Collaborative Architecture , Urban Design and Planning .
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