TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

Habitat May Lose Grant, But Will Still Build Ridgeview Housing

ADVERTISEMENT

By JIM KONKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: January 30, 2009

SEBRING - State budget cuts could take away a $2.5 million state grant for Habitat for Humanity of Highlands County's 100-townhouse Ridgeview project.

But, the grant may be saved, said Mike Jacobson, executive director of the county Habitat chapter.

And, he said, if the grant is lost, Habitat will still go ahead with an affordable-housing project on the 20-acre Ridgeview site, on the east side of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, just south of Arbuckle Creek Road.

"We are going to build there," Jacobson said. "Whether we build 100 townhouses full blown or we build 70 single-family homes, we will build there."

Last year, Habitat received preliminary approval for a $2.5 million Community Workforce Housing Innovation Pilot (CWHIP) grant. With the grant providing a $25,000 subsidy per unit, each of the two-story townhouses are projected to sell at between $68,000 to $72,000 to Habitat families.

Final approval of the grant was threatened on Tuesday, when Gov. Charlie Crist line-item vetoed $90.9 million in state spending cuts but let stand a transfer of $190 million in state housing funds to other areas of the state budget.

The transfer left Florida Housing Finance Corporation, which allocates state housing funds, with $201 million for CWHIP and other housing programs, just over half of what it had before the state Legislature passed a $2.3 billion deficit elimination package.

Jacobson was in negotiations Thursday with Florida Housing officials, seeking final approval of the CWHIP grant.

"What I'm hopeful for," he said, "is that they will take a close look at CWHIP projects like ours, that are three-quarters of the way through the underwriting process, that have already received their zoning approvals, that have already gone through the architectural and engineering process, and that have already qualified their families for home ownership, and allow those projects to continue."

On Feb. 17, Florida Housing will hold a public hearing on awarding grants in the wake of the $190 million cut. Jacobson said there is a chance Florida Housing officials could make a decision on Habitat's Ridgeview grant much earlier, possibly within the next several days.

More than 260 families are on Habitat's waiting list for affordable housing.

If the CWHIP grant does disappear, Jacobson said, Habitat probably would be unable to go ahead with its planned 100-townhouse community, but would shift instead to building single-family homes at Ridgeview.

No matter what happens with the grant, he said, "we will build there. The need is great, the community support is great, the political support locally is great, and we will find a way to build there with or without CWHIP.

"Of course, it would be far better with the CWHIP funds, but our commitment (to affordable housing) transcends all of that."

About the future of Ridgeview, Jacobson said, "Our plan is to start construction in one form or the other in June of this year, starting the preliminary site work. We have families who are waiting, we need to rally to make this work one way or another."

With CWHIP funding, Habitat's zero percent loans and volunteer labor, monthly payments on the planned townhouses would run between $450 to $475.

Eligible buyers would have to have household income of 140 percent or below the county's median household income. That means eligibility for a family of four with a household income up to $52,400 per year.

Eighty percent of the CWHIP subsidies would be reserved for families with at least one person working in what the state defines as "essential occupations." Those jobs include teachers and school workers, city and county government workers, people working in health care, public safety, the building trades and utilities.

Plans for the Ridgeview townhouse project include community amenities such as a park, a community center, trails, and a small area for neighborhood retail businesses.

Highlands Today reporter Jim Konkoly can be reached at 863-386-5855 or e-mail jkonkoly@highlandstoday.com

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT