Wisconsin: Looking for high impact
Low-income veterans have found a home at Major General Jacob Brown Veterans Manor in Green Bay, Wis.
Joe Thomae
Cardinal Capital Management and the Center for Veterans Issues has opened 50 units of supportive housing for low-income veterans in Green Bay, Wis.
Developed by Cardinal Capital Management and the Center for Veterans Issues, the 50-unit permanent supportive-housing project opened last June and serves veterans ranging from age 30 to the upper 60s from all branches of the military. Veterans Manor is located near the new Milo C. Huempfner VA Outpatient Clinic. The $7.5 million development was financed primarily with LIHTCs allocated by WHEDA and syndicated by RBC Capital Markets.
Veterans Manor received $595,500 in housing credits through WHEDA’s High-Impact Project Reserve (HIPR) program. Created in 2013, HIPR involves a special LIHTC round to fund particularly effective projects, including developments that are linked to job growth or job training; are part of a larger redevelopment plan; are located in an area with few affordable housing options or will have an immediate high impact on potential residents; and will improve the housing stock or address foreclosures, says Sean O’Brien, director of commercial lending at WHEDA.
In another example of a HIPR project, WHEDA awarded $850,000 in LIHTCs to Gorman & Co. to stabilize and revitalize the housing stock in Milwaukee’s Northside. The affordable housing developer is leading a multiphase recovery of the neighborhood by rehabbing vacant buildings and putting them back to use. Residents of the renovated single-family homes and duplexes have an option to buy after the initial 15-year LIHTC compliance period. Alliant Capital was the syndicator on the high-impact award, but Gorman has worked with other syndicators on other phases.
The effort is also unique because Gorman is working with Northcott Neighborhood House, a local nonprofit, to train area residents in construction and demolition work. They have also put in place a workforce training program that targets re-entry workers to get union apprenticeships in construction.
Overall, seven awards have been made through the high-impact program. “When you look at the projects that we’ve chosen, I feel like they’ve all been a great fit with our mission,” says O’Brien.
Looking ahead, this may be the final year for HIPR as WHEDA officials weigh the possibility of incorporating many of the program’s features into its regular LIHTC program.
