NCSHA – June, 2016 Opportunities and Challenges in Development Siting
32 years of Affordable Housing and Community Development Experience Majority of Gorman Developments are in Challenged Areas with High Concentrations of Poverty These Developments are Proven to be “Catalytic” and Produce Additional Economic Development Gorman & Company
Gorman & Company Leadership: Extensive Community Development Backgrounds WI AZ FL IL CO
Mixed, but positive, feelings about targeting affordable housing development towards “opportunity areas” –Accept the research on social mobility as important –Reject the new “poverty pimp” narrative, criticizing affordable housing development in inner cities –Pleased that communities can no longer reject multi- family development simply because it’s affordable –Pleased that HUD and State HFAs “have our backs” when we develop in “opportunity areas” Gorman & Company and Disparate Impacts
Fairgrounds Valley, Rockford, IL Public Housing, RAD Conversion Existing conditions
Fairgrounds Relocation to “Opportunity Zone” Existing Fairgrounds Valley site Site of 1 st Phase of Replacement Housing
Fairgrounds Valley, Rockford, IL Existing conditions
New Towne, Rockford, IL
Fierce Protests Against New Towne
New Towne Timeline December Selection of Site Meeting IHDA’s Opportunity Zone Criteria March Tax Credit Application Submission June 2015 – 9% Tax Credits Awarded June 2015 –Public Opposition Meetings Begin
New Towne Timeline July 2015, Gorman Alters Proposal to Meet “Zoning by Right” Criteria. IHDA fully cooperates. August 2015, HUD Contacts City with Serious “Civil Rights Concerns” September 2015 – Plat Application Submitted October 2015 – HUD Notifies City it has Begun a Formal Civil Rights Investigation
New Towne Timeline December 1, 2015 – Plans Submitted for Permit December 2015 – City Council Hires Special Counsel to Stop the Project January 12, 2016 – Lawsuit filed by Gorman & RHA against City of Rockford January 19, 2016 – City Council Approval of Plat
New Towne Timeline February 2016 – Lawsuit filed by Neighbors against City March 2016 – Motion to Intervene filed by Gorman & Rockford Housing Authority Court Decision (and Closing) Imminent