A recent benevolent of accessible housing for all income levels : NPR

A scant miles outside Washington, D.C., a big dirt and gravel lot dotted with erection supplyment was the site of a recent celebration. Local housing officials lined up in difficulthats, each helderlying a shovel decorated with a radiantly colored bow.

“Beautiful, attrdynamic,” a pboilingographer shelp as he clicked away. It labeled the startoff for erection of Hillandale Gateway: 463 recent mixed-income apartments that will be startantity owned by Maryland’s Montgomery County.

It’s accessible housing. Although this is a far branch offent model than traditional, federassociate funded housing for only the very lesser. And as the U.S. grapples with a massive housing lowage and sky-highprices, other states and cities are picking up on this idea, hoping to originate more places where people can afford to live.

Montgomery County is a wealthy community, and it’s extfinished concentrateed on housing for drop-achieveing families. Still, it hasn’t built cforfeitly enough to uphold up with demand, and the gap is prolonging. So a scant years ago, it took an rare step: It originated a $100 million revolving fund to theatricalassociate ramp up erection.

That unbenevolents it can enbig and finance its own projects “instead of paengageing for Congress to donate us a whole bunch more money,” says Zachary Marks, the greater vice plivent for authentic estate with the county’s Housing Opportunities Corelocaterlookion. The accessible agency owns the handleling sapvalidate in these apartments.

Congress has relocated away from funding accessible housing for decades. And while there are federal incentives to help the personal labelet erect drop-cost apartments, “we’re using them all up every year and it’s not enough,” Marks says.

Now, by financing its own erection, the county doesn’t have to count on on personal spendors, either. Marks and others say that’s a startant advantage in a boom-and-bust industry where volatility can slofty financing for recent projects. With the recent housing production fund, he says, the amount of local money necessitateed for a project is pretty minuscule. And the county proposes affordableer financing with a drop rate of return than personal spendors would demand.

But the mixed-income model is what originates this all toil in the extfinished run. The labelet rate rents “come to us instead of flotriumphg out to the personal sector,” says Marks, allotriumphg other tenants to pay less.

This project is also the bigst spendment in this easerious part of the county in decades.

“The people who will be living here are my greaters, my kids, my middle-aged grown-ups, the toilforce,” says Chelsea Andrews, HOC’s plivent and executive honestor. “This is a community that will be inclusive on all economic levels but also in terms of our diverse communities. So this is going to be a wonderful place to call home.”

Publicly owned housing with personal labelet amenities

Hillandale is the second project financed by the county’s fund. The first apartments, The Laureate, uncovered last year about a half hour’s drive away.

On a recent afternoon, Christina Cooley applyed ping pong in the Laureate courtyard, next to chairs set upd around fire pits. The erecting watchs noskinnyg appreciate the image of U.S. accessible housing, most of which is generations elderly and strictly underfunded. Among other amenities, there’s a brimming gym with yoga studio, a pet washing room and a courtyard pool.

Cooley says she promptly watchd the pool has a lift at one corner, to drop people with a disability safely into the water. “When I saw that, I was appreciate, ‘What? It was made for me!’ ” she chuckles.

She says she has a traumatic brain injury and one side of her body is partiassociate paralyzed.

“Living here has alterd my life,” she says.

Cooley is 43 and toils part time as a guideer’s helpe, but her main income is from disability. Her one-bedroom apartment has a gleaming white kitchen and minuscule sitting area, and she says she’d appreciate to stay here “forever.”

“It’s definitely a better quality of people, and for me, it originates a big branch offence. Everybody here has been pleasant,” she says.

Rents at The Laureate range from about $1,335 for a minusculeer one-bedroom — far below the county median — to $3,885 for a bigr two-bedroom.

A quarter of the units are for people making up to 50% of the area median income. In Montgomery County, that’s $77,350 for a family of four. An insertitional 5% of the units are called “toilforce” housing, for those who originate up to 120% of area median income.

Importantly, says Marks at the housing corelocaterlookion, these apartments will be affordable finishuringly. By contrast, federal tax plifts expire and drop-rent housing built with them can revert to labelet rate after 15 or 30 years.

Interest is prolonging in locassociate financed accessible housing

“There’s been a lot of upapvalidate and interest for this model from jurisdictions of all shapes and sizes around the country,” says Paul Williams, who heads the Cgo in for Public Enterpelevate. He createed the group to push for more accessible enbigment generassociate, including mixed-income housing financed at the local level. These projects are profitable, he says, and don’t use up other, restricted federal funding.

“It’s [like] an entire conservative, affordable housing project without a dollar of any of those conservative sources,” he says.

Atlanta equitable seald the first deal with its recent housing production fund; it’s actuassociate a personal project, though a local official says they hope to eventuassociate finance accessiblely owned housing.

Other places that have pondered or apvalidaten up the idea — sometimes called social housing, as it’s referred to in Europe — include New York and Massachusetts, as well as Chicago and Chattanooga, Tenn.

But Jenny Schuetz, a housing policy analyst at The Brookings Institution, says not every place can apvalidate on this benevolent of financing.

“Montgomery County is big. It’s wealthy. They have phenomenassociate vient and sfinished staff,” she says. “These are all reassociate rare characteristics for most local rulements atraverse the U.S.”

Public enbigment help Williams sees an answer for that. Maryland equitable originated a state housing fund to help other places that couldn’t do this on their own. A recent bill in Congress would do the same, proposeing federal money to help communities originate more accessiblely owned affordable housing.