Career Gateway
By Mark Fogarty
6 min read
Expanding the Scope of Workforce Housing
Low Income Housing Tax Credit project in Columbus, OH is giving a fresh perspective to the concept of workforce housing.
Traditionally, workforce housing is associated with people earning about 60 percent to 120 percent of area median income. But the tenants of The Residences at Career Gateway Homes in the Near South Side neighborhood of Columbus, all at 60 percent or lower AMI, live in a project that is within walking distance of a hospital that is the largest employer in the area. And they have access to workforce training right where they live to help them get jobs at the hospital or with other local employers.
Rev. John Edgar, executive director of faith- and place-based nonprofit developer Community Development for All People (CD4AP) in Columbus, reacted to the traditional 60-120 percent model by saying, “Nobody is defining workforce housing that way in this community.”
And according to Myia Batie, policy and program coordinator for Ohio Capital Corp. for Housing, the syndicator that sold the credits that helped fund this project, “At a time when workforce housing models are being developed for and marketed to teachers, emergency personnel, firefighters, police, and other career professionals in a growing Central Ohio region, housing individuals and families with lower incomes and greater needs represented an important opportunity to leverage the tax credit program near a major regional job center.”
Home as a recruiting tool
Nationwide Children’s Hospital, the largest pediatric hospital in the United States, employs 11,000 people in its Columbus facility adjacent to the project. Not only did the hospital make a $300,000 equity investment in Career Gateway Homes, but it is involved in training people from the project and the surrounding zip codes in the 2,400- square-foot training facility located at Career Gateway.
The hospital is planning to hire 2,000 more people in the next 18 months. And the Career Gateway Homes is going to be a prime recruiting tool for it, said Rev. Edgar. Those jobs will include entry level positions in areas like food service, data processing and patient care. “It isn’t often an employer of that size makes the commitment to train people in inner city communities,” he said.
CD4AP, a housing developer since 2005, began doing LIHTC projects in 2010. “We were learning as we were going,” said Rev. Edgar. “We were talking about using the LIHTC to create workforce housing. We desired housing that would also advance people in the workplace.”
The $12 million project, at 755 E. Whittier St., Columbus in Ohio’s Franklin County, was completed in the fall of 2017. Financing included $9.8 million in equity from OEF Nationwide Fund IV, LLC, $1.4 million in hard debt from RiverHills Bank, $250,000 in soft debt from the city of Columbus, and $75,000 in equity from the Chase Foundation. The Bank Third Foundation contributed $50,000 towards the cost of operating the training center.
The 58 units at the project, which is fully leased up, include 14 three-bedroom townhomes with attached garages and 44 one- and two-bedroom apartments. “It’s a nice place to live,” said Rev. Edgar.
The CD4AP executive director described an area economic situation that features both high employment and high poverty. “It’s a low-income community, with lots of unemployed and underemployed workers. We work with people on getting them to believe they can get back into the workforce.”
“Research conducted by The Ohio State University reveals striking disparities have persisted as the region has grown. Work remains tenuous for many. From 2009 to 2015, the number of temporary jobs in Franklin County grew by 49 percent, nearly five times the rate of overall job growth,” Batie wrote in a description of the project that accompanied submissions for multifamily housing awards.
Variety of training
Operations at the training center are now underway, said Rev. Edgar. In addition to the ones done by the hospital, trainings have been conducted by Goodwill Industries and local groups, such as Dress for Success, and Ohio State University, which has offered financial literacy and homeowner education. The city of Columbus conducts high school equivalency classes there, and there have also been job fairs at the facility.
It is currently operating 30 to 35 hours a week, and Rev. Edgar hopes that increases to 60 hours a week. About 20 people, including residents of Career Gateway Homes, have gotten jobs so far, either at the hospital or other employers, such as a local plastics manufacturer.
“We’re still building up capacity,” he said, noting he hopes 200-300 people will go through training there in a year. But he’s happy with the progress so far.
“It is tracking in the direction we want it to go,” he said. “We’re feeling good about what is happening.”
The L-shaped facility, attached to the apartment building and built near the parking lot, has two rooms, holding a capacity of 100 in one room and 45 in the other, with a small hospitality space. It features good Internet access and sophisticated A/V equipment. Training groups supply their own laptop computers for their sessions.
“It has a good ambiance to it,” said Rev. Edgar. “It’s similar to conference rooms in nice hotels.”
While residents don’t have to move if new employment pushes them above 60 percent AMI, Rev. Edgar hopes to see some of them step up to different housing, including homeownership. CD4AP has acquired and renovated 15 single-family homes for ownership opportunities.
Rev. Edgar said Career Gateway Homes is the only project of its kind he knows about in Columbus or even the whole state of Ohio. He thinks it might become a template for others, describing a recent visit by people from Kentucky and an upcoming visit from folks from Cleveland.
Batie summed up Career Gateway Homes this way: “Pioneering a new model to provide a variety of quality, energy efficient, housing options and workforce training for residents, this development uniquely connects affordable housing to the larger context of systemic economic transformation.”
Story Contacts:
Myia Batie
Program and Policy Coordinator, Ohio Capital Corp. for Housing.
614-224-8446, [email protected]
Rev. John Edgar
Executive Director, Community Development for All People.
614-327-5468, [email protected]
SOURCES
Housing Credit Equity: OEF Nationwide Fund IV, LLC………… $9,767,959
Hard Debt: RiverHills Bank…………………………………………. $1,375,000
Soft Debt: City of Columbus …………………………………………. $250,000
Deferred Developer Fee………………………………………………. $242,041
General Partner Equity: Chase Foundation…………………………. $75,000
General Partner Equity: Nationwide Children’s GP capital………… $300,000
Total:………………………………………………………………….. $12,010,010
USES
Land Cost:………………………………………………………………… $325,250
Building Acquisition:…………………………………………………………….. $0
Site Work:……………………………………………………………… $1,500,000
Hard Construction Costs:…………………………………………… $6,078,516
Soft Construction Costs:……………………………………………. $2,058,211
Development Fee:…………………………………………………… $1,521,000
Construction Loan Interest:…………………………………………… $158,760
Reserves:…………………………………………………………………. $199,494
Bridge Loan Interest:…………………………………………………… $168,779
Total:………………………………………………………………….. $12,010,010
