Generations of Hope August 2016 Newsletter
Hello Friends-
First, I want to alert you to a national conference (September 26-29 in Park City, Utah) of a new organization (Grounded Solutions Network.org) This is a collective meeting of 350 people and is described as “The only national conference dedicated to permanently affordable housing and the creation and preservation of just, equitable and inclusive communities across the country and around the globe.”(http://groundedsolutions.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/2016-Intersections-Schedule-At-A-Glance-1.pdf)
Some Topics Listed
- Housing Trust Funds
- Community Land Trusts-Community Practice
- Making CLT Mortgage Financing Work
- Building Inclusive Communities
I have plans to be in attendance and fingers crossed, it will be as interesting as it looks. This conference is almost back to back with one of my favorite utopian group conferences – Communal Studies Association in Salt Lake City.
Looking at Optional Financing
For the next several issues we are going to get into a little detail about the ways you can fund projects.
Every project is different and the local mix will be different by populations and local government programs. In addition to donations from foundations, individuals and organizations there are at least twenty project funding sources.
Here are some that we will cover:
- Low-income Housing Tax Credits *
- Donations of Land
- HOME Funds
- Tax increment financing in some states and localities
- Federal Home Banks (affordable housing grants differ by region)
- State Housing Trust Funds (vary by state)
- USDA Rural facilities grants, loans and loan guarantees
- HUD 202 (Provides capital and operating to facilities creating multi -familiy housing for very low income seniors)
HUD 236 Mortgage Insurance/ Interest rate reduction - HUD 811 (Melville ) Supportive housing for persons with disabilities
- HUD 220 and 221 loan insurance (drives down interest rate for social purpose housing)
- EB-5 Visas to create jobs in exchange for visa
*While “low income housing tax credits†have been the “go to funding sourceâ€, the competition for this source is strong enough that new starts may want to consider exploring other sources. (The new Congress and President will expand affordable housing options)
Notes From the Mother Ship – Hope Meadows
Hope Meadows now a mature site (over 22 years old) is going through a growth spurt with the addition over the last few months of 26 new residents. Just as five residents of Hope have recently graduated from high school the community is as expected welcoming new residents and saying goodbye to others. Hope Meadows continues to receive visitors who come to learn and organizations that come to help. Colorado University at Denver and Catholic Heart Work Camp from New Orleans recently came to help. The most unwelcome guest has been the Ash Bores who have killed over a dozen fully mature Ash Trees. If only Paul Bunyan would drop in.
Bastion is on a roll!
Having broken ground at the Gentilly neighborhood site in New Orleans, DylanTate has announced the desire to fill the position of “Program Manager for the Transition Team†the complete job description and the timetable is on the website (joinbastion.org) He has asked that we all become the recruiting team finding the best and the brightest. You might also be interested in the pictures of the ground breaking and many other items.
Growing Interest
We are continually pleased by the number of people and organizations that get in touch with Generations of Hope with interest in creating a new site. The past couple of weeks have seen interest from North Carolina (2), Virginia, Ohio, Minnesota, Georgia, California, New Jersey and Illinois. As you know only to well, its a long way from interest to opening the doors but we hope we are developing a formula that will help get people interested and building capacity to create inter-generational communities. In addition to the growing interest, it is amazing to see where our new friends read about the idea.
We are trying to be more aggressive in marketing to organizations that have a mission of helping vulnerable populations and have the organizational capacity to create a GOH inspired community. With the recent changes in regulations of communities types for people with behavioral and intellectual disabilities, we believe there are existing “semi-segregated” communities that may look to an inter-generational neighboring approach to diversify populations.
President and CEO’s Message
Generations of Hope has begun an aggressive strategy of grant seeking and developing greater foundation support. We think that this work will shore up part of the long run, positive financial picture for the organization. We are continuing to build Generations of Hope technical consulting services to new potential sites. In addition, we feel that a university (or universities) needs to play a role in advancing the core knowledge about intergenerational neighboring that meets a higher quality of life for both seniors and vulnerable populations.