Key Points:
- Wichita allocates $5 million for the Affordable Housing Fund to address housing needs.
- Developers can apply for up to $40,000 to purchase or renovate affordable homes.
- Priority goes for use with former public housing units, especially to clusters in Northeast and Southwest Wichita.
Developers and remodelers can soon begin applying for up to $40,000 per house in funding to purchase or renovate affordable homes in the city’s core, with priority going to public housing units being sold by the City of Wichita.
The money will come from the $5 million Affordable Housing Fund (AHF), which was created by the city council in April, after a series of public outreach meetings determined the growing shortage of affordable housing is a pressing problem.
The money was allocated from the $72 million provided to the city by the American Rescue Plan Act to help with recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The housing crisis has deepened with the city selling 352 single family homes that have been part of their HUD Public Housing Program.
Part of what the Affordable Housing Fund provides is a way to ensure the new owners of those homes are low-income home buyers or landlords willing to keep them in the city’s Section 8 voucher program.
“Some of the houses we are selling need a lot of work,” said Megan Lovely, city communications manager. “Having a program that helps with money for renovations improves the odds that the house will be sold, repaired and kept as affordable housing.”
She said the city decided to sell the homes as more and more of them fell into disrepair.
“The maintenance allocations from HUD just kept getting smaller and smaller as the need for repairs got bigger and bigger,” she said. “Something had to be done.”
Top priority for AHF money goes to clusters of single family homes in two former public housing neighborhoods in Northeast and Southwest Wichita: 43 homes at 25th Street North along Minnesota, Ash and Piatt Streets, and 23 homes near Meridian and Pawnee, with the majority along Haskell and St. Clair Streets. Those 66 homes are the most recent homes approved for sale.
The next level of priority goes to any home from the public housing stock being sold by the city or located within a quarter-mile of radius of a former public housing unit.
Focusing the use of funds into targeted areas with a larger number of houses, the City believes they can more easily reach their goal of improving neighborhood stability, along with improving the quality of existing housing stock while expanding quality affordable housing options.
The city is advertising open houses on groups of homes as they are approved to be sold. So far the city has sold just 13 of the 352 homes. Eight more either have contracts or pending contracts. The listing price for the homes is the latest appraised value.
The $5 million fund will allow for the purchase or upgrade of at least 125 homes.
AHF funds are only available to qualified developers or rehabbers. Applicants must show that they can:
- Do all the necessary work as well as prove they have past experience using local, state or federal funding
- Demonstrate a track record of efficiently completed housing rehab or new building projects
- Have honored or used all prior city funding
- Show the ability to complete projects in a timely manner with a deadline of one year for rehab projects or 18 months for new construction
Units purchased and rehabilitated using money from the fund must be offered as affordable housing for low-to-moderate-income individuals and families.
Applications will be due in late June, and awards will be announced in late 2024 after being reviewed and scored by the Affordable Housing Review Board (AHRB) and then presented to Council for approval.
Since minority communities have been disproportionately impacted by housing insecurity, the city is focused on ensuring minority participation in this program as renters, owners, developers and contractors. The AHRB will work to ensure minority developers and contractors can reasonably participate in the program. In addition, minority community leadership will be a part of a review to ensure the program’s positive impact on minority communities.
More info is available at wichita.gov/282/Affordable-Housing-Fund. Applicants may request to be notified about the RFP, status updates and milestone events by emailing housingdevelopment@wichita.gov.A directory of available homes being sold by the city can be found at www.wichita.gov/1317/Available-Housing-Department-Properties.
