Explanation
BACKGROUND: This ordinance authorizes the appropriation and expenditure of up to $300,000.00 of the 2020 HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) entitlement grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and to increase the amount of HOME funds supporting the Bretton Woods project, developed by Bretton Woods Senior Housing Limited Partnership.
City Council passed ordinance 0800-2021 on April 26, 2021. Since that ordinance had passed, Bretton Woods Senior Housing Limited Partnership has requested additional funds for the project due to increases in labor and material costs. The agreements have not yet been executed. The total amount of HOME support for this project is $600,000.00
Original $300,000.00 Ord. 0800-2021
Additional $300,000.00
Total $600,000.00
Bretton Woods is a 75-unit, mixed-income senior housing community with wraparound supportive services. This project will provide a mix of one and two-bedroom units with a blend of income restricted Low-Income Housing Credit (LIHTC) units and unrestricted, market-rate units. National Church Residences will be seeking 9% LIHTCs from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency. There will be at least two HOME funding assisted units included in this project.
This senior housing community will offer a blend of affordable and market-rate units: 63 units will be affordable to households earning 60 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), while 12 units will be unrestricted. By providing several unrestricted units, National Church Residences will better serve households marginally above the income-qualifying threshold for a Low-Income Housing Credit that would otherwise be turned away. Additionally, this strategy would provide opportunity for households with incomes that initially qualify, but increase above the LIHTC threshold over time and would therefore no longer meet program regulations to remain living in the community.
The proposed site for this senior housing community is 4836 Cleveland Avenue in Columbus, located at the intersection of Cleveland Avenue and Bretton Woods Drive. The site is located in close proximity to neighborhood services, shopping, public transportation, and healthcare services. A Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) stop is located at the intersection adjacent to the site, providing easy and affordable access for residents to travel on the #6 or CMAX with service to Downtown Columbus or north to Polaris. Additionally, residents are less than half a mile of the Gillie Senior Recreation Center located at 2100 Morse Road with free or discounted activities for those 50 years of age or older.
This project will boost the inventory of affordable senior housing in the Northland neighborhood, which the Ohio State University’s Kirwan Institute identifies as a place of high senior density and vulnerability in a 2017 report. Despite this urgent need for affordable senior housing in the Northland community, the Bretton Woods project would be only the second senior, affordable housing development in Columbus’s Northland community.
This legislation represents appropriation for a part of the HOME portion of the 2021 Action Plan, per Ordinance 2345-2020.
Emergency action is requested to allow for the developer to maintain the project schedule.
Contract Compliance: the vendor number is 035110 and expires 3/11/2023.
Fiscal Impact: $300,000.00 is available from the 2020 HOME grant (G451903). Total project funding will be supported by ACPO006394 from ordinance 0800-2021 and this ordinance.
Title
To authorize the appropriation and expenditure of up to $300,000.00 of 2020 HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; to authorize the Director of Development enter into a commitment letter, loan agreement, promissory note, mortgage, and restrictive covenant with Bretton Woods Senior Housing Limited Partnership in an amount up to $600,000.00 for the Bretton Woods project; and to declare an emergency. ($300,000.00)
Body
WHEREAS, the City of Columbus is a participating jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and
WHEREAS, the City of Columbus is the recipient of HOME Investment Partnerships funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and
WHEREAS, the Columbus City Council has approved the 2021 Action Plan, per Ordinance 2345-2021, as required by HUD; and
WHEREAS, there will be at least two HOME-assisted units in the project; and
WHEREAS, Bretton Woods will offer a blend of affordable and market-rate units: 63 units will be affordable to households earning 60 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), while 12 units will be unrestricted; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the Department of Development in that it is immediately necessary to appropriate and expend said funds to allow for the developer to maintain the project schedule, thereby preserving the public health, peace, property, safety, and welfare; and NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
SECTION 1. That from the unappropriated monies and from all monies estimated to come into said fund from any and all sources and unappropriated for any other purpose during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, the sum of $300,000.00 is appropriated in Fund 2201 (HOME), from Dept-Div 44-10 (Housing), G451903 (2020 HOME), object class 05 (Other Expenses) per the account codes in the attachment to this ordinance.
SECTION 2. That the expenditure of $300,000.00 or so much thereof as may be needed, is hereby authorized in Fund 2201 (HOME), Dept-Div 4410 (Housing), G451903 (2020 HOME), object class 05 (Other Expenses) per the account codes in the attachment to this ordinance.
SECTION 3. That the Director of Development is hereby authorized to enter into a commitment letter, loan agreement, promissory note, mortgage, and restrictive covenant with Bretton Woods Senior Housing Limited Partnership in an amount up to $600,000.00 for the Bretton Woods project.
SECTION 4. Funds are hereby deemed appropriated and expenditures and transfers authorized to carry out the purposes of this ordinance and the City Auditor shall establish such accounting codes as necessary.
SECTION 5. That the City Auditor is authorized to make any accounting changes to revise the funding source for all contracts or contract modifications associated with this ordinance.
SECTION 6. At the end of the grant period, any repayment of unencumbered balances required by the grantor is hereby authorized and any unused City match monies may be transferred back to the City fund from which they originated in accordance with all applicable grant agreements.
SECTION 7. That for the reasons stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this Ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency measure and shall take effect and be in force from and after its approval by the Mayor, or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.