What follows are answers to frequently asked questions regarding The Regional Housing Partnership and KC Housing Connection.
There is a lot of emphasis on building an ecosystem, civic infrastructure and systems changes for the production of affordable housing. How is this better than what we have now?
- We have neither an ecosystem nor civic infrastructure now. What we have are disparate efforts to address the critical shortage of housing:
- No definition of the problem, not even agreement on what affordable means
- No awareness of how people at the lower end of the economic spectrum are living
- No ability to share best practices or lessons learned in the development, financing, management of affordable housing
- No ongoing way to track the impact of things like COVID, 2020 census data, and new developments
- No common understanding of the magnitude of the problem and the impact of this critical shortage on things like student mobility, health and jobs.
Initially in the first year, what can we expect the ecosystem and civic infrastructure to look like?
The top three elements of the infrastructure include:
- A robust research system: MARC will develop the basic elements of the research, defining affordability, factoring utilities into rent payments to arrive at total housing costs, examining the impact of transportation on affordability, and creating a reporting system that regularly updates critical elements of affordability, much like what MARC has done for KC Rising
- Connectivity for affordable housing leaders: An interactive technological platform called KC Housing Connection, (KCHC), developed by KC SourceLInk and LISC and patterned after the successful platform KCSL used with entrepreneurs. By the end of the first year, KCHC will connect 200 leaders in the affordable housing field. This connectivity will focus on: raising the visibility, creating a common framework for leaders to use in describing and defining the problem; identifying barriers to production; finding productivity improvements; improving communications, language and strategies to reduce community resistance to affordable housing in their neighborhoods, mobilizing the larger community to get involved in solutions.
- Innovative financing: with a mobilized community and a higher level of awareness, RHP will identify 3 new and innovative financing models that could work in metro Kansas City. The RHP leaders tie into creative and effective national networks: the LISC network operates in 32 cities; exploring affordable housing alternatives has been central to their mission for all 41 years of their history.
What is an example of how a strong ecosystem will enhance production of affordable housing?
The most promising example focuses on an ecosystem for the acquisition, rehabilitation and sale to owner occupants of currently undervalued and deteriorated single family homes. This issue transcends geography. It has been identified as a priority by MARC’s First Suburbs Coalition as well as by numerous urban core neighborhoods. RHP will work to strengthen each component of the ecosystem:
Housing stock available for acquisition at a nominal cost. Systems need to be developed to share this information regionally.
Rehabbers who have the capacity and desire to purchase deteriorated homes, provide their own working capital, manage a work crew, comply with building codes and produce a rehabbed home attractive to the market. If rehabbers are confident there are buyers they can produce more housing at a faster rate.
Affordable loans: some banks offer loans affordable to low and moderate income families but they are offered episodically in response to CRA pressure. These loans need to be consistently available and widely publicized to potential buyers. Affordable loans ask for a low down payment, often as low as 3%; a credit score as low as 600; a debt to income ratio as high as 45%.
Realtors who see the value in reclaiming deteriorated properties and actively work with rehabbers and neighborhood groups to market the properties and the communities.
Neighborhood groups who work to remove physical barriers to marketability like weeded lots and drug activity.
City processes which recognize the value of this reclamation and make the process of purchasing, rehabbing and selling easy and efficient.
A pipeline of qualified buyers interested in purchasing the redeveloped homes. For many low and moderate income people, credit problems impeded their ability to envision themselves as homeowners. Free or very affordable credit counseling provided by nonprofits is part of the solution.
Ensuring that these components function as a system will greatly enhance productivity.