Construction Maison

Roughly 220 children in lower-income families in Bloomington qualify for but do not have access to affordable pre- kindergarten education . In an effort to change this, Alex Crowley, director of the city’s Economic and Sustainable Development Department , said a state-sponsored initiative, On My Way Pre-K pilot program, which provides funding to programs serving 4-year-olds from families with household incomes at or below 127 percent of the federal poverty level , is coming to Monroe County next year, and it is estimated it can help about 50 children. That begs the question: What can the city and others do to make sure no children who are eligible for pre-kindergarten are left out? As part of that answer, the city is proposing investing $100,000 to support quality child care for lower-income families. “Every dollar initially invested in early education programs for children from low-income families is estimated to generate $4 to $11 in economic benefits over a child’s lifetime,” May...

SAN FRANCISCO — A forum Thursday on the Bay Area’s egregious housing situation — the high prices, the scarcity of new construction — brought together academics, developers, real estate agents , government officials and housing advocates, all in the name of seeking creative solutions to the crisis. It was both a cry for help and a call to action. “They have their crazies. We need our crazies,” said panelist Laura Foote Clarke , executive director of YIMBY Action, which advocates for housing growth. Yes, that’s YIMBY, as in “Yes In My Backyard,” and the “they” she referred to was the other side — the many and often well-organized “Not In My Backyard” NIMBY opponents of housing development and densification in neighborhoods around the region. For more Bay Area housing affordability , home sales and other real estate news follow us on Flipboard. Held at LinkedIn San Francisco in front of an engaged audience of about 175 people, the forum was titled “California Housing Crisis : Examinin...

As teachers, cooks, cashiers, and bus drivers are being priced out of Charlotte, one question looms: How does a growing, thriving city in modern America keep housing affordable for its working-class citizens? By RACHEL JONES Published: 2017.08.23 06:21 AM Jacqueline Ingram (middle) works full-time at the Ross Dress For Less distribution center in Rock Hill. But in this booming region, her salary isn’t enough to comfortably buy a home for her and her kids, 12-year-old Nya and five-year-old Rejonee. PHOTOS BY ANDY MCMILLAN ONE RECENT SUNDAY AFTERNOON , Jacqueline Ingram and her two daughters explore an empty four-bedroom house for sale on a Brianna Way cul-de-sac in southwest Charlotte , filling it with their dreams along the way. “This one is mine,” 12-year-old Nya says of an upstairs bedroom with a view of the Clanton Park neighborhood . “I could put my chest over there, and my table there.” As five-year-old Rejonee sprawls out on the carpet in the room across the hall, In...

There’s a big demand for more affordable housing in Charlotte, where rents and home prices have shot up much faster than wages over the past few years. Many of the apartments being built now target more affluent renters, waitlists for housing vouchers are long and starter homes are snapped up almost immediately. So why aren’t developers building more affordable housing ? That was one of the main questions at a candidate education panel hosted by the Greater Charlotte Apartment Association on Friday, where about two dozen candidates for Charlotte City Council turned out to learn some of the basics on a complicated subject. “ Affordable housing is one of the topics you’ll talk about a lot,” Bryan Holladay, who supervises the group’s government affairs outreach , told the candidates. The subject is an alphabet soup of acronyms (like NOAH, or “ Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing ”) and overlapping terms and definitions. Sometimes when people say “ affordable housing ” they mean go...

CHICAGO , Aug. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The AFL- CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT) today celebrated the grand re-opening of the Kenmore Plaza Apartments , which recently completed an extensive $61 million rehabilitation. The 28-story, 324-unit building provides affordable housing exclusively to the elderly. The rehabilitation work included reducing the operating costs of the building by installing durable and easy to maintain materials and energy efficient equipment , improving energy and water efficiency over the long term, as well as upgrading the current residential units , floor hallways, interior ground floor , and building exteriors and the construction of a small addition to the existing structure. The HIT provided $22.9 million of financing through the purchase of Ginnie Mae construction loan certificates and a permanent loan certificate . "The HIT investment is helping preserve a historically significant building that has been a major source of afforda...

It’s been only two months since the Portland Housing Authority opened Bayside Anchor , its first new housing development in decades. But already, the low- income housing provider is poised to file plans for two additional projects , totaling more than 155 units of housing at a time when a dearth of affordable housing in Maine’s largest city is reaching crisis levels . “This is the continuation of our effort to be a part of the solution to the affordable housing crisis in Portland,” said Jay Waterman, the housing authority ’s development director. The authority is looking to build a 55- unit apartment building at 58 Boyd St. in the city’s East Bayside neighborhood . The site is practically across the street from Bayside Anchor , a highly energy- efficient PHA apartment building at 81 Oxford St. with 45 units that opened in June. A public meeting about the East Bayside proposal has been scheduled for Monday, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., at 47 Smith St. Meanwhile, about 2 miles away, t...

Nearly 1,100 new apartment units could be coming to Pentagon City as part of a major planned development of the 37- acre RiverHouse apartment complex . RiverHouse owner Vornado presented the initial development plans to largely skeptical members of the Arlington Ridge Civic Association last night. The plans call for 934 new market rate apartment units , to be added to the existing 1,670 units on the site across three buildings, which date back to the 1950s and 60s. Vornado is also proposing a 150 unit, stand-alone affordable apartment building , to be developed with a nonprofit affordable housing partner . The new market rate units will be built across three buildings, each about seven stories tall — half the height of the existing buildings — to preserve the views of condominium residents on Arlington Ridge . The first two buildings are to be built on what is currently a surface parking lot across from the Pentagon Row courtyard . Between the buildings will run a pedestrian co...

CLOSE A quick history of how Asheville's "RAD" went from post-industrial grittiness to tourist haven. Joel Burgess/Citizen-Times The Stoneyard Apartments are proposed for 175 Lyman St. in the River Arts District . (Photo: Form & Function Architecture)   ASHEVILLE - Approval of a proposed $19 million River Arts District apartment complex has been delayed a second time after City Council concerns about high rent prices . The 133- unit Stoneyard Apartments were slated to be reviewed at Tuesday's council meeting, but Mayor Esther Manheimer asked that the public hearing be delayed to "a date uncertain." The council unanimously approved the change with no discussion. No one from the Saluda- based AltInvest development group spoke at the meeting. On Wednesday morning Sasha Vrtunksi , with the city's planning and urban design department , said the delay happened at the request of AltInvest. Chief developer David LaFave couldn 't be reached by text...

Pharos-Tribune (Logansport, IN) Aug. 24--A Logansport commission is planning to support a housing project in a downtown building with $160,000 and a five- year tax abatement . Bill Cuppy, executive director of the Cass- Logansport Economic Development Organization and Logansport- Cass County Chamber of Commerce, discussed the project at a Logansport Redevelopment Commission meeting on Wednesday. The project involves the Logan Square Building at Third Street and East Broadway. The vacant five- story building consists of about 45, 000 square feet and has a parking lot with about 75 spaces. Cuppy's presentation indicated Lafayette- based FRG Management is pursuing the project. The company bought the building in June and is willing to invest $3.2 million, Cuppy said. FRG Management wants to make the building's first floor mixed-use commercial, Cuppy continued, adding the firm is in talks to provide office space to a financial adviser and an attorney. Cuppy added the firs...

1ST DISTRICT Banks St. 3114: Virginio Valdez to Ujwal S. Patil and Shaina L. Krok, $137,000. Banks St. 3508-10: Aramburo & Associates LLC to DDB2 Property LLC , $380,000. Poeyfarre St. 920, Annunciation St. 1049, Unit 154: Lev I. Shulman to Ryan E. Wall and Elizabeth C. Wall, $210,000. Poydras St. 1200, Unit 206: Poydras Properties II LLC to Agree Ltd. Partnership, $14,376. S. Scott St. 611: Samuel C. Kimball and Whitney G. Magendie to Brian M. Smallwood and Emily S. Williams, $305,000. S. Solomon St. 523: Succession of Italia Bacuzzi Dearing to Natalie G. Thomas, $250,000. St. Charles Ave. 1205, Unit 917: James P. Reed to Evangeline Davis, $157,000. St. Charles Ave. 201, Unit 1500: Bre Nola Parking LLc to EZ Park LLC, $27,551. 2ND DISTRICT Begonia Lane 16: Denise A. Tebbe and James T. Tebbe Jr. to Laura F. Guidry and Benjamin V. Guidry, $900,000. Bluebird St. 2: 2 Bluebird LLC to Jeanne A. Mullen and Jonathan C. Powers, $213,000. Brooks St. 330: Jonathan G. Owen and Rebecca S...