Final Chapter Part 1: Low to Mod Income Housing

Forget how many years ago, was it 8 years ago???? I gladly accepted when I was asked to be on the South Worcester Neighborhood Improvement Corp (SWNIC) board of directors. There was no heavy lifting and it was fun at first, when we focused on our core mission, human services.

About four years ago,it all changed for me when we started getting into the low to mod income property development game. To date we have focused on two properties:

Cambridge/Hacker

1. $2,050,000 project on Cambridge/Hacker Street for 12 owner occupied units, 9 of which (I may be one off) had to be low to mod income
2. $650,000 of grant monies on Cambridge/Hacker that do not have to be paid back as long as the "affordabilty period is not violated.
3. $1,060,000 loan to BankNorth is still outstanding but Holy Cross is paying the interest.

City Builders Parcel

1. $7,000,000 dollar project on the old City Builders parcek for 25 rental units for low to mod income.
2. $515,000 loan from CEDAC to help buy the parcel
3. $1,900,000 grant
4. $3,300,000 in Federal Tax Credits

In total these two projects represent $9,050,000, which has generated 3 owner occupied units. That thing that really kills me is that anytime we talk about cuts, it is mentioned we will need to cut firemen, cops and teachers. Why not cut projects like these?