Title
Resolution of Support for the Sale of the Library Lane Lot
Memorandum
The Ann Arbor Housing Commission Board of Commissioners strongly supports the sale of the Library Lane Lot with the specific goal of providing seed money for new affordable housing developments serving the lowest income households in the community. A $5 million contribution to the Ann Arbor Housing Trust Fund will enable developers of affordable housing to take advantage of opportunities to leverage at least $75 million to develop a minimum of 300 rent and income-restricted apartments.
To put that in context, the Ann Arbor Housing Commission currently owns 381 apartments in Ann Arbor and Avalon owns just under 300 apartments. When the AAHC opened its waitlist in 2012, there were over 3,600 applications from Washtenaw County residents and 900 of those applicants were disabled. 1,071 applicants were living in the City of Ann Arbor. The development of 300 new affordable apartments would make a huge impact for the City's lowest income, disabled, elderly and veteran households.
The cost of developing a single apartment can cost $150,000 - $300,000. The City of Ann Arbor's Housing Trust Fund was never intended to pay for the entire cost of building an apartment. However, every $1 in the AAHTF has historically leveraged an average of $25 from other sources. These funds provide critical matching funds to fill the gaps not covered by other funding sources to make the projects feasible.
The Housing Commission and Avalon Housing planning projects that these funds would be critical to ensure that these projects are successfully developed. The City and County also own properties that can be developed into affordable housing. Affordable housing projects can also be developed on privately-owned property but it is harder to plan for acquiring properties that are not yet on the market.
Below is a realistic scenario of how these funds could be used:
1) $600,000. The AAHC is developing an $18,000,000 ...
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