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$7M In Tax Credits Opens Door For Affordable Housing

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Three Grand Rapids-based affordable housing construction projects just received more than 7 million dollars in federal housing tax credits.  City officials say the tax credits are important in helping the projects come to life and provide much needed housing.

“So at a time when community is, we’ll be able to deliver over 164 units over the next 12 – 24 months.”

That’s Kara Wood, Managing Director of Economic Development for the city of Grand Rapids.  She says they’re excited the city has been awarded more than 7 million dollars in federal low income housing tax credits.  Three affordable-housing construction projects will receive the credits from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.

These low income tax credits are very limited. So, for Grand Rapids to get 3 in one round is exciting.”

Wood says the projects include one at 501 Eastern, which is the redevelopment of a former Grand Rapids Public School which has 61 low income housing units, there’s also the Stockbridge apartments on Stocking, a Brownfield development, mixed use project providing 51 tax credit units, along with the St. James Apartments, an additional 52 units.  Wood says with all the growth in the city, it is critical that affordable housing is included.

“It’s critical, because we have all kinds of employees living in city, we want them to live here too.  Not long commutes. It’s workforce housing and supports the workforce.”

Wood says these projects may not happen without the tax credits… but now these projects should move forward and be finished within 12 to 24 months.  Looking ahead, she says they hope to secure more credits.

“We hope we can get more in the next round, because we’ve proposed 7 projects this year in this round of funding,  and only received funding for three, so the demand is much greater than the supply, so we need to keep working on supply. “

Jennifer is an award winning broadcast news journalist with more than two decades of professional television news experience including the nation's fifth largest news market. She's worked as both news reporter and news anchor for television and radio in markets from Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo all the way to San Francisco, California.