Explanation
BACKGROUND: This legislation authorizes the Director of Development to modify and extend an existing escrow agreement with Community Housing Network Inc. The extension of time to December 31, 2030 will allow the funds that are held in escrow to be used on HOME eligible projects that will only be released if approved by the City of Columbus Housing Division.
Hotel St. Clair is a thirty-two unit affordable senior housing project located at 340-352 St. Clair Avenue on the near east side within the City of Columbus. In 2001, Hotel St. Clair obtained a loan of $226,000.00 of HOME funds from the City of Columbus for site acquisition and construction of the project which has been providing affordable housing for eligible residents since that time. The original development team of this project, G. Fred Schwab, LLC and Hotel St. Clair Housing Corporation exited the ownership of the project in 2005 and was replaced by Hotel St. Clair Partners, Inc. a subsidiary of Community Housing Network Inc (CHN). At that time, CHN secured additional financing from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati in the amount of $387,500.00, the HUD Supportive Housing Program McKinney Vento Grant (SHP) of $150,000.00 and a second forgivable loan from the City of Columbus for $95,000 and the project was converted to permanent supportive housing for seniors. The second City loan was forgiven in 2010. The project has never operated at a profit and Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing, the low-income housing tax credit equity provider, has funded operating losses of over $738,981.00 during the 15-year period and will pay a tax credit recapture expense of $196,671.00. The completion of the 15-year compliance period for housing tax credits was December 31, 2016 although tenants were relocated prior to that time. In 2017, due to the ongoing losses of the projects, CHN (owner) identified a buyer for the project, and it was sold. The tenants were located to other CHN sites or were pr...
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