The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), is the nation’s largest community development support organization. Their mission is to help neighborhood residents create healthy and sustainable places of choice and opportunity – good places to live, work, raise children and conduct business. In D.C. and around the country, LISC mobilizes corporate, philanthropic, individual donor and government resources and invests them into projects, programs and initiatives that build on assets and addresses neighborhood challenges.
They are a lender, donor, advocate, convener, facilitator and technical assistance provider…and LISC DC has been particularly busy over the past few months using these successfully honed skills to invest in one its biggest projects to date: Conway Center.
“We are extraordinarily proud of our latest collaboration with So Others Might Eat (SOME),” said Oramenta Newsome, executive director, LISC DC. “Being with them, members of the community and our other partners at the recent groundbreaking, clearly showed that the hard work each of us devoted to make this deal happen will pay off exponentially in the creation of homes and opportunities for families and individuals in Northeast, D.C.”
Construction on Conway Center, formerly known as the SOME Benning Road project, broke ground at the end of July and will be the District’s first complex to have affordable housing, health services and job training all under one roof. The community will be a 300,000 square foot, mixed-use complex spanning the block between 44th and 45th Streets in Northeast – directly across from the Benning Road Metro stop – and will cost an estimated $89 million to build. This innovative transit-oriented development project will act as a model for the interconnectedness between housing, health and economic opportunities, a dynamic that is increasingly gaining more momentum within the supportive services and affordable housing sectors.
To successfully invest in projects like Conway Center that provide the trifecta of housing, health and economic opportunities, LISC joined with Morgan Stanley and the Kresge Foundation to create the Healthy Futures Fund. Working with these two partners and LISC affiliates the National Equity Fund and the New Markets Support Corporation, LISC DC invested $34 million in equity to Conway Center.
“Once this community is complete in late 2017,” continued Newsome, “D.C. residents will have access to a comprehensive medical and dental clinic, supportive and affordable housing for homeless individuals and families and adult vocation education. This is a great example of a successful collaboration between diverse organizations all working towards the same goal – greater choice and opportunity for those with lower-incomes in the District.”
As a COLLABORATOR, LISC DC fully appreciates the benefits of its HAND membership, especially in terms of creating a platform to share resources, best practices and ideas at networking events and trainings. Through HAND, LISC DC is able to connect with peers who span the gamut in affordable housing and community development – thought leaders, change makers and other collaborators – all working towards the same goal of improving neighborhoods and communities.
HAND is pleased to spotlight LISC DC, which certainly contributes to our organization’s COLLABORATION, INNOVATION and TRANSFORMATION within the metropolitan area!
Darryl Leedom, MSW, recently joined Wesley Housing as Director of Resident Services. He leads the planning and implementation of supportive services and youth and family programs for the residents of Wesley Housing’s communities. Leedom’s areas of expertise include nonprofit management, direct service to diverse populations, and community outreach. Prior to joining Wesley Housing, Leedom served as National Director for Public Policy at the Salvation Army National Headquarters.
Maryann Dillon Elected President of the Board of Directors for the
Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers
Sasha-Gaye Angus, Michaels Development Corporation; Monica Warren-Jones, Enterprise; Shelley Murphy, Wesley Housing; and J. Michael Pitchford, CPDC, Named Directors
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers (HAND), one of the largest associations in the Washington DC region dedicated to affordable housing and community development practitioners, announced today that Maryann Dillon, executive director the Housing Initiative Partnership (HIP), has been elected president of the board of directors for the 2015 – 2017 term.
“For nearly 25 years, I have worked to enrich affordable housing opportunities for families in this region. I welcome the opportunity to use that experience in leading the HAND board as the organization moves towards its 25th year,” said Dillon. “HAND’s focus has always been on serving practitioners who build communities. I look forward to doing my part in increasing HAND’s value to its members and ensuring it will continue to be a valuable asset for the foreseeable future.”
Dillon has served on the HAND board for a number of years and has held leadership roles with HIP, a green nonprofit developer and service provider based in Prince George’s County, Maryland since 2012. Previously she worked with the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County and Bank of America Community Development Corporation. She has extensive experience in managing complex real estate development projects from initial acquisition to project stabilization. Dillon holds a master’s in business administration from Yale School of Management and a master’s in public administration from Baruch College through the National Urban Fellows program.
She replaces immediate past president, Michael J. Scheurer who held the position from June 2013 to June 2015. Scheurer, recently named vice president of housing and community development at Cornerstones in Reston, will remain on the board as its immediate past president.
“I want to thank Mike for his dedicated service and for welcoming in a new era of HAND through his dynamic leadership of the board,” said Heather Raspberry, executive director of HAND. “Maryann’s knowledge of the organization and of this field will be invaluable as we pass the quarter century mark and look to the future, especially as we build on our current strategic direction and plan for the 2016-2019 vision.”
Additionally, HAND named four regional leaders from various sectors of the affordable housing and community development industry to the board: Sasha-Gaye Angus, vice president of the Michaels Development Company; Monica Warren-Jones, director of Relationship Management for Enterprise Community Partner’s Mid-Atlantic office; Shelley Murphy, president and CEO of Wesley Housing; and J. Michael Pitchford, president and CEO of Community Preservation and Development Corporation.
With these recent additions to the board, the 18 directors effectively represent the association’s diverse membership, which operates throughout the metropolitan area and in nearly every sector of the industry.
The Community Foundation in Prince George’s County is pleased to announce the launch of Back on Track Prince George’s County (BOT-PGC) a new program developed by the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office (PGSAO). Back on Track is a diversion program focused on reducing recidivism among first-time, nonviolent felony drug offenders. The target population is 18 to 26 year old male and female defendants who have no prior felonious or violent convictions. Eligible participants will be given the opportunity to opt into a 12-18 month program, designed to connect individuals to a career pathway to economic security that links education and training, helps secure life sustaining wage jobs, and helps participants meet their civic obligations. After the successful completion of the program, participants will have the opportunity to have the offense for which they are charged, removed from his/her record permanently.
The PGSAO seeks a nonprofit partner for the pilot of BOT-PGC to provide case management, mentoring, job placement services, and alumni support. Please review all contents of the Request for Proposals (RFP) including the program overview and scope of work to understand the responsibilities of the nonprofit partner and to apply for funding.
Technical Assistance
Eligibility to apply includes attending The Community Foundation’s mandatory pre-proposal grantseeker information webinar on Wednesday, August 5, 2015 from 10:00 – 11:00AM. Grantseekers must complete an online questionnaire here to register for the webinar.
Apply Online
Once you have reviewed the entire RFP to determine your organization’s eligibility to apply, please follow the proposal format and online application guidelines also included in the RFP to apply. All applications must be submitted online on Friday, August 14, 2015 by 5pm. Final grant decisions will be announced by November 30, 2015.
To review the full set of application guidelines, click here.
Questions?
Please direct all questions to Mena Amin at (301) 918-8480 x168 or mamin@cfncr.org.
On behalf of the HOME Coalition, Enterprise Community Partners and the National Council of State Housing Agencies are hosting a webinar TOMORROW featuring HUD Secretary Julian Castro on Tuesday, August 4, 2015 at 3:30 PM
On the webinar, Secretary Castro will discuss Congress’s proposal to severely cut—and even essentially eliminate—the HOME program and how these cuts will impact communities across the nation. Afterward, you can learn more about what the HOME Coalition is doing to protect this critical program and what you can do to help.
By Lisa A. Sturtevant, PhD
Vice President for Research, National Housing Conference
Despite a rise in home sales and inventories in June, in 2015 the Washington DC area housing market has been characterized by relatively slow sales activity and price growth. After strong price appreciation in the housing market in 2012 through 2014, upward pressure on prices has eased in many markets across the region. Despite this slowdown in home price growth, however, the availability of homes that are affordable to moderate-income households remains limited. The high end of the market continues to be strong, while the inventory of more modestly priced housing remains far below demand. The only affordable options in many localities are condominiums which are often too small or otherwise unsuitable for families. Without an increase in the supply of more moderately-priced homes—including not only condominiums but also smaller single-family homes and townhouses—homeownership may continue to be out of reach for many would-be first-time homebuyers in the region.
Recent Housing Market Trends
According to the most recent data from MRIS, the region’s multiple listing service, sales activity was strong in the Washington DC region in June. In fact, the 8,901 sales posted in June was the highest total monthly sales figure since December 2005 and a 16 percent increase over the number of sales in June 2014. Sales were up fastest in Suburban Maryland, where there were 3,101 sales in June, reflecting a 19 percent increase compared to a year ago. The number of sales was also up in the District of Columbia and in most jurisdictions in Northern Virginia. The strong sales activity is indicative of the current demand in the region which has been stymied by constraints on access to credit and low inventories in recent years.
The total inventory of homes for sale in the region was also up in June compared to a year earlier, although the rise in inventory levels was outpaced by the increase in sales regionwide. In June 2015, there was a total of 3,093 homes listed for sale, up 11 percent from the June 2014 inventory. Inventories were up in the suburbs but down slightly in the District. For the region as whole, there were about 3.6 listings for each home sold in June, which is a relatively low listings-to-sold ratio and is further evidence of the continued strong demand in the region.
While sales and inventories were up, prices were actually down in June. The average sale price in the Washington DC metro area was $468,252 in June 2015, down a little over a percent from a year ago. Prices were down by about two percent in the District and one percent in Suburban Maryland, while the average sale price in Northern Virginia was virtually unchanged between June 2014 and June 2015. The highest average home prices were in the closer-in jurisdictions, including the District of Columbia, Arlington, Fairfax County and the city of Alexandria. The lowest home prices tended to be in the more distant suburbs as well as in Prince George’s County. Despite the slowdown in price growth in 2015, high prices in the region have made homeownership a challenge for many working households. In an analysis of homeownership opportunities for workers in the Washington DC area, NHC’s Paycheck to Paycheck found that many workers—including nurses, software programmers, teachers, fire fighters, and administrative assistants—do not earn enough to afford the median priced home in the Washington DC region.
While overall average home prices were down slightly, the average price of condominiums in the Washington DC region increased in June. Condominium prices were up six percent regionwide, four percent in the District of Columbia, 14 percent in Montgomery County, 11 percent in Prince George’s County, and nine percent in Arlington. The average condominium in the District sold for nearly $500,000 in June. While condominiums in the
suburbs tend to be more affordable, prices continue to rise. In Loudoun County, for example, the average condominium sold for nearly $300,000 in June 2015, up over four percent from a year ago.
There are opportunities for moderate-income buyers in the condominium market. Over 60 percent of condominiums listed for sale in Arlington County, 72 percent of condominiums for sale in the city of Alexandria and about 85 percent of the condominiums for sale in Montgomery County are priced below $400,000, for example. Condos are relatively pricier in the District where only 48 percent of all condo listings are below $400,000. However, many of the condos priced below $400,000 are studio or one bedroom units, which are not suitable for families.
New construction is not adding to the affordable supply fast enough. For example, according to the website Urban Turf, there are currently 11 condominium projects in the District of Columbia that are under construction and actively selling. Several of the new projects include affordable units, including the 1115 H Street project which made use of publicly-owned land to help subsidize the cost of providing affordable units, and the Maryland, on Maryland Avenue NE, there are simply not enough units being developed with prices that are affordable to households earning below the area median income.
Single-family homes are out of reach for all but the highest income households in the closer-in jurisdictions. In recent months, nearly one in five homes sold in the District was priced at over one million dollars. Data from MRIS show that nearly one quarter of the active listings in Montgomery County have list prices of $800,000 or more. And there are only nine single-family homes for sale (included townhouses and duplexes) in the city of Alexandria with prices below $400,000, less than four percent of the inventory of single-family homes in the city. In Arlington, there are only seven listings of single-family homes priced below $400,000, accounting for just two percent of the listings. Nationally, as homebuilder confidence rises, new home construction is rebounding but average home sizes are increasing, indicating that an important part of the homebuying market is still not being adequately served.
Outlook for First-Time Homebuyers
First-time homebuyers have been a growing part of the housing market nationally. But the opportunities in the high-cost Washington DC region are limited. For individuals and families with moderate incomes, it is a daunting task to try to find an affordable home to buy. The problem is most acute in the closer-in jurisdictions. Moderate-income families, in particular, face very few options for homeownership in areas near jobs and well-served by transit.
Some conditions have improved for first-time and moderate-income homebuyers. The mortgage market is opening up access to credit (although some see this loosening as potentially problematic) and interest rates remain low (although with the Fed set to raise rates later this year, mortgage rates will rise soon after). A big part of the strategy for increasing homeownership opportunities is to increase the supply of more modestly-priced homes. Localities need to allow for the development of more smaller homes, including condominiums and smaller single-family and townhomes on small lots. Changes to zoning requirements can help facilitate the development of smaller, more affordable homes. Innovative zoning techniques, including transfer of development rights, reduced parking requirements, and allowing more townhouse and multi-family development by right, can create opportunities for and reduce the costs associated with affordable housing development. Shared equity programs represent another strategy to open up homeownership opportunities to moderate-income households. The biggest challenge is how to make homes available that can accommodate not only the single Millennial first-time homebuyer, but also the Millennial—and others—with growing families.
SOME and D.C. leaders break ground on The Conway Center, first building in city to combine housing, healthcare and job training in one location
So Others Might Eat (SOME) and leaders from the District’s government, business and charitable communities came together at 4430 Benning Road, N.E., Washington, DC, for a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the start of construction for a new building that will bring new hope to the city’s homeless and low income families and single adults. The mixed-use, LEED-certified building will be owned and operated by SOME and feature 202 units of affordable housing, an expanded SOME Center for Employment Training, and a Medical and Dental Health Center operated by Unity Health Care. The building, expected to open in 2017, is located directly across the street from the Benning Road Metro.
“This will be the first facility in the District of Columbia to offer homeless and low-income women, children and men safe affordable housing, job training and health care, all in one place.” said Fr. John Adams, SOME president. “It is a natural evolution of SOME’s holistic and comprehensive approach to serving homeless and low-income individuals and families.”
SOME has been working with local and national public and private partners and raising funds through its Building Hope Capital Campaign to create this first-of-its-kind project. The building is named in honor of Joanne Conway and SOME’s Building Hope campaign chair William E. Conway, Jr.
Since the Building Hope campaign officially launched 2 years ago, SOME has raised $16.7 million of the $20 million dollars needed to leverage approximately $70 million in approved public funding, tax credits, tax exempt bonds and low- interest loans. Over $3 million in capital funds are still needed.
Once construction is completed, The Conway Center will:
Provide safe, dignified, supportive housing to over 200 homeless and very low-income families in D.C.
Treat more than 10,000 underserved patients a year with medical and dental health care
Serve over 300 D.C. residents every year with employment training, through SOME’s Center for Employment Training, which will be moved to this building
There is a critical need for the services that will be provided at The Conway Center. Approximately half of D.C.’s affordable housing has disappeared over the past decade, nearly 30,000 D.C. residents are unemployed and almost half of primary and mental health care needs in the District are not being met.
“SOME is best suited to develop this project because they understand that both place and people matter,” said Oramenta Newsome, program vice president of Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a nonprofit dedicated to helping community residents transform distressed neighborhoods into healthy and sustainable communities of choice and opportunity. “SOME has a long interest of bringing quality housing and a myriad of resources that improve the quality of life of its clientele and add to the vibrancy of the neighborhood.”
“We hope this development will bring other businesses to the area,” said Linda Jo Smith, chair of SOME’s Board of Directors. “Benning Road is central to Ward 7, and the site will go from being vacant to having a beautiful building where people will be able to get medical care, have safe housing and get job training. SOME is really looking out for people in Ward 7 and the city as a whole.”
Join the MAHC Construction Committee for the August Brown Bag Lunch Discussion on Wednesday, August 5, 2015 from 12:00 – 1:30 PM at Humphrey Management, 10220 Old Columbia Rd., Suite M, Columbia, MD, 21046. They will be talking about the various energy codes and what’s working in the field. Join them for a presentation by Pando Alliance followed by a panel discussion with our contractors on how they are dealing with the ever changing energy codes with an emphasis on air sealing, ventilation, and insulation practices. Panelists include:
Thanks to Capital One Bank, the Washington Mystics selected HIP Executive Director Maryann Dillon as their Community Champion during their June 19 game against the Tulsa Shock in recognition of her long career creating housing opportunities for low income families.
Alas, while the Mystics were leading after the second quarter, they lost the game. But that didn’t dampen the fun of the evening. It was a great recognition for Maryann and for HIP!
HIP is a innovative, green nonprofit housing developer and counseling agency based in Prince George’s County dedicated to revitalizing neighborhoods. HIP creates housing and economic security for low- and moderate-income households and provides services that improve the quality of life in the communities they serve.
To learn more about Community Champions and Maryann’s award, please visit the Washington Mystics Website.
BB&T in partnership Virginia Housing Development Authority is bringing the National Development Council (NDC) to Richmond, Virginia to offer their Housing Development Finance Professional (HDFP) Certification Program. The four-course training program explores the development process, financial analysis techniques and structuring and negotiating skills needed to successfully develop and finance affordable home ownership and rental housing development. The Virginia Housing Development Authority is offering scholarships to support individuals completing the four-course HDFP certification. Scholarships will be limited two staff members per organization. Organizations must nominate each staff member for the scholarship. Scholarship awards are designated to cover 100% of the full certification tuition expenses. Individuals must complete the downloadable application and return to Debbie.griner@vhda.com no later than 5:00pm, Friday, July 31, 2015. Recipients of the scholarship will be notified by mid-August.
Payments: Orders placed on the event registration page are not confirmed until payment is received. A confirmation email will be sent to the email address listed in your registration. If you paid by credit card, a receipt will be sent to the email address listed in your registration. If you mail a check, all payments must be received within seven days of completing your registration form. Checks should be remitted to: HAND, PO Box 48386, Washington, DC 20002
Guest List & Dietary Preference: If your registration includes a luncheon table or multiple guests, please submit guest names and menu choices by May 1, 2020. Submit guest names here.
Omni Shoreham Hotel Room Block: For attendees looking to secure overnight accommodations on May 25th, HAND has secured a rate starting at $189 for conference attendees. There are a limited amount of rooms available, so visit this link todayto reserve your room. May 10th is the last day to secure a room at the discounted rate.
Cancellations & Changes: If you wish to cancel or change your registration for the Annual Meeting & Housing Expo, please send a request in writing to annualmeeting@handhousing.org. All cancellation requests made prior to April 27th will receive a 50% refund. For cancellation requests made after April 27th, no refund will be provided.
Door Prizes: Are you interested in donating a door prize to this year’s Annual Meeting? Email annualmeeting@handhousing.org to coordinate with our team.