Downtown OKC project could use affordable housing incentives
By: Molly M. Fleming The Journal Record February 1, 2018
OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority will soon issue a request for proposals for a private commercial development next to the convention center’s parking garage.
That project could be one of the first to use the city’s new affordable housing money. When the latest 10-year general obligation bond package was approved in September, it included $10 million in money for affordable housing.
Alliance for Economic Development of Oklahoma City President and CEO Cathy O’Connor said if approved by the City Council, the developer could use some of that $10 million in the private development.
The site sits between SW Third and SW Fourth streets, with Shields Boulevard and Broadway Avenue on the east and west.
The site measures about 2.5 acres. The parking garage for the convention center will be developed by the Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority. COTPA will issue bonds to fund the project, which is different money than the GO bonds.
Public Information Officer Michael Scroggins said COTPA will find an architect soon for the garage through the public bidding process.
O’Connor said during the January Economic Development Trust meeting that the goal would be to bring on the private developer and its team to work together with COTPA’s architect so the site has cohesiveness.
She said the private development could also help offset some of the purchase price of the land. The private development design could lower the cost of the garage because it could decrease the need for aesthetic. If the private development covers some of the parking garage’s exterior walls, then COTPA would not have to take on the cost of those walls’ aesthetics. She said construction would start in 2019.
But the entire development doesn’t have to be affordable housing, O’Connor said. Housing studies have shown it’s beneficial to have a mix of income types in a development.
“We could build a project where people who work at the hotel and convention center could live (in the private development),” she said. “They could walk to work and just have a very urban living experience.”
The city’s $10 million isn’t the only money available for affordable housing in Oklahoma City. The Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency has four products that can work downtown, said Darrell Beavers, housing development team leader at OHFA.
There are 9-percent federal housing tax credits, which are issued twice a year. They can be used on projects where people make 60 percent or less of the area median income. They are hard to acquire though, Beavers said.
“There are three times as many applications as there is funding,” he said.
A downtown Oklahoma City project would get points for location, he said.
“That’s easily our most powerful tool financially for the production of affordable housing,” he said.
Another product is a 4-percent tax credit, but that is paired with private activity bonds. Half of the project has to be funded by the bonds, and then the developer is eligible for the 4-percent credit.
Another option is the National Housing Trust Fund. The state gets about $3 million annually. It has to be used on projects where people make 30 percent or less of the area median income.
The fourth option is the Oklahoma Housing Trust Fund, which can be used as a construction loan for leased or single-family properties.
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