HUNTERS HILL APARTMENTS

Winston-Salem, NC

HOUSING 400

2006-2007 first year of Housing 400 funding

• Dave Allred from Center Point met with Jane Milner from Partners for Homeownership (PfH)

• Identified great site• PfH Board support –diversify from normal business

activities – great opportunity to bring new source of funds to help house extremely low income households with disabilities

• Created team • Completed pre-development and application process• Fed-Ex missed delivery; team had not really jelled and

application was not funded• Frustration, disappointment

Round 2 - 2007-2008

• Dave and Jane got together to consider possible suitable sites and what we could do to make project more viable – involved Partners for Homeownership’s real estate agent in process; discussed need for all local partners with vested interest in the outcome for each other and the community

• Simultaneously the City/County/Experiment for Self Reliance, and Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness staff were also meeting to look for sites for similar project as part of Ten Year Plan, but did not identify use of Housing 400 funds

Early meetings – round 2• Two teams came together to discuss project; Jane and Dave

suggested using Housing 400 funds; • Center Point was experienced as a lead agency• Partners for Homeownership was not experienced with multi-family

development• This year we identified need for local owner/applicant with track

record with developing multi-family housing – Put aside the pride – find a way to make the project a success– Area had the need– Partners for Homeownership had begun to notice market changes with

first time homeownership market – needed to diversify its development activities in order to meet production goals

• Invited North Carolina Housing Foundation to join the discussions since they had both multi-family housing development and management experience

POTENTIAL COMMUNITY PARTNERS NOW INCLUDED

• North Carolina Housing Foundation

• Partners for Homeownership

• Center Point Human Services

• Experiment for Self-Reliance

• Ten Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness

Using community partnerships to create housing for persons with disabilities – why we did it –from my

perspective

• Collaboration and partnerships – buzzword- and our goal• Opportunity to blend the strengths and resources of 5 organizations plus the

city and county to put together a competitive application for funds and a quality project

• Makes sense for small organizations – share the work – we don’t all need to have all the skills to make a project work and we can learn from each other –

• Side benefits – collaborative approach is more fun – and less isolated – someone to bounce ideas off of

• All busy – collaboration makes things easier – can meet deadlines and still handle personal life issues and/or other business needs

• Collaborative project supports the nonprofit infrastructure of our community - helping each other -

• Bring the respective boards and other relationships we each have to make project even more successful

• Project’s high visibility is good for each organization – for current and future projects and for fundraising

Very informal collaboration• No formal agreements between the groups initially – MOU • Trust – old fashion handshake agreements –natural skills, strengths and

relationships• North Carolina Housing Foundation-lead developer and Partners for

Homeownership would be the co-developer – agreed on basic roles and responsibilities – we both would handle various pre-development activities, garner neighborhood and political support, put together financing and grant applications, and ultimately oversee the development – each organization paid for pieces of the pre-development costs, each organization will share development fees

• Center Point- lead applicant and both Center Point and ESR would handle the tenants’ services side of the project – tenant selection, peer support, and wrap around social services component

• North Carolina Housing Foundation would be the owner and property manager

• The Ten Year Commission to End Chronic Homelessness would provide technical assistance

• City and County housing staff would provide technical assistance and would be potential source of financing

Site Selection

• Partners for Homeownership real estate agent identified sites – teams did windshield tours – usual criteria for location, broaden neighborhood search to bring project to different part of town

• Tim e-mailed about a site that was vacant but he did not know if it was available

• We contacted owner and ultimately agreed to enter into P&S after all parties including NCHFA staff had seen site

• A lot was done by “round-robbin” e-mail

Partners for Homeownership role

• Real Estate Agent• Strong relationship with city, county, local

foundations and neighborhood groups• Coordinated neighborhood meetings• Talked with neighborhood leadership• Generated press releases• Used some of our pre-development funds for

feasibility• Wrote grant applications

Ongoing work in neighborhood as a result of “listening” to neighborhood residents

• Partners for Homeownership is now working with area churches and two neighborhood groups to help create and implement revitalization strategies for the commercial and neighboring residential areas to the Hunters Hill site

• School system announced plans to consolidate two elementary schools on site near Hunters Hill