More affordable housing is coming to Kansas City thanks to the City's Housing Trust Fund Board. Through HTF's Round III application cycle ten projects were recommended to receive funding. During this round $9 million will be allocated to projects supporting affordable housing creation, homeownership and retention, housing preservation and transitional and supportive housing.

"Since becoming mayor, I have been proud to commit $75 million to Kansas City's Housing Trust Fund, which already has created hundreds of affordable housing units—ensuring stable and dignified housing available to Kansas Citians in all zip codes," said Mayor Quinton Lucas. "Today, I'm proud to introduce legislation to fund an additional nearly 800 affordable units, which brings our total number of homes created and preserved through Kansas City's Housing Trust Fund to more than 1,800. No child and no family in our community should be without a safe and affordable place to live, and we will continue working each day to create more affordable homes throughout Kansas City."

Kansas City government has a larger vision for affordable housing for Kansas City's future and is committed to producing 8,000 units of affordable housing units from the Housing Trust Fund and strategic economic development investments over the next four years. Thanks to Kansas City voters' approval of a $50 million bond last year and initial investments since 2018, Kansas City has committed $75 million to the Housing Trust Fund to support affordable housing.

What is the Housing Trust Fund?

The Housing Trust Fund Board reviewed 32 applications and narrowed its scope to the 10 projects listed below:

Project Name	Applicant Organization	Project Type	Council District	Affordable Units
Prospect Summit Townhomes	Taliaferro & Browne, Inc. / Fulson Housing Group	Affordable Housing Creation	3	24
Jazz District III	McCormack Baron Salazar, Inc.	Affordable Housing Creation	3	43
Trails at Bannister Apartment Homes	Pedcor Investments, A Limited Liability Company	Affordable Housing Creation	5	194
Prospect at 35th	Metro Lutheran Ministry & Consolidated Housing Solutions (co-developers)	Affordable Housing Creation	5	25
Northeast Community Land Trust	Jerusalem Farm	Homeownership and Retention	4	6
KC Urban Core Homeownership Fund	By Purpose Productions	Homeownership and Retention	5	75
Jazz Hill Homes	Flaherty & Collins Development, LLC	Housing Preservation (Rental)	3	181
Historic Northeast Lofts	Lofts Arnold Development Group LLC	Housing Preservation (Rental)	4	192
DeLano Youth Housing and Supportive Services Redevelopment More on Missouriar On behalf of the At Your Service Plumbing Club Members, we have donated to The Salvation Army and Families Network Unlimited this Holiday Season Springfield: Buc-ee's ribbon cutting and grand opening Monday Springfield: Buc-ee's ribbon cutting and grand opening Monday St. Louis: SLATE Missouri Job Center Hosts Final Installment of Holly Jolly Hiring Fair Series on December 8, 2023 Operation Bullpen Stan Fitzgerald hits back on political persecution with "The Fall of Deceit" now available for purchase	TBD	Transitional and Supportive Housing	3	18
Forest Hill Village	Synergy Services, Inc.	Transitional and Supportive Housing	4	18

Here is a brief description of each project:

• Prospect Summit Townhomes – This project is reserved for 55+ Seniors.
• Jazz District III – A new mixed-used building. Future phases of this project include preservation and redevelopment of the remaining historic properties along the west side of Vine Street.
• Trails at Bannister Apartment Homes – This project includes two- and three-bedrooms options. In partnership with Phoenix Family Care, 33 units are for permanent supportive housing to provide a safe place for individuals or families that suffer from a disability.
• Prospect at 35th – This project includes the construction of new rental units with supportive housing for those with special needs and families at-risk of or experiencing homelessness and those living in poverty.
• Northeast Community Land Trust – A sustainability project focused on current homeowners, restoring abandoned houses, and revitalizing new homes in Northeast Kansas City.
• KC Urban Core Homeownership Fund – This creates attainable homeownership opportunities for households making 50% AMI (Area Median Income) or below through renovation and new construction.
• Jazz Hill Homes – Renovation of 181 affordable one- and two-bedroom housing units in ten historic colonnade-style buildings along Paseo Boulevard.
• Historic Northeast Lofts – A 1.2 million square foot project of existing buildings for mixed-use development of residential and retail in the Lykins, Indian Mound and Sheffield neighborhoods.
• DeLano Youth Housing and Supportive Services Redevelopment – This project includes repurposing the historic R. J. Delano School to provide a drop-in center, a non-congregate overnight/emergency shelter (15 individual units for ages 14-18) and transitional living housing.
• Forest Hill Village – Converting 12.3 acres of land with an existing former elementary school into a transitional housing for vulnerable, low-income families surviving domestic violence and unstable living.

"The HTF Board is proud of the outstanding projects we recommended that the City fund through the most recent RFP (Request for Proposals). Since the Board began working in 2022, we have co-developed a comprehensive process with city staff to evaluate and identify projects which advance the City's goals of supporting deeply affordable housing," said A.J. Hermann, Housing Trust Fund Board Member. "Based on input from community engagement sessions we held earlier this year, we asked applicants to provide more information about their plans for both engaging with neighborhoods and for how they planned to manage their projects once they were completed. This allowed us to have a better understanding of the long-term impacts of these projects on the community. We look forward to the City Council's input and feedback on our recommendations."

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"The HTF Board is recommending 10 projects to City Council, which together could create nearly 800 units of affordable housing," said Kavya Shankar, Housing Trust Fund Board member. "Since launching in 2022, the HTF Board has run a strong bi-annual process to select projects for funding based on a scorecard that includes measures such as total number of affordable units, depth and length of affordability, project readiness, and level of community support. This cycle, based on feedback from a public town hall, the HTF Board incorporated a public comment period for the proposals. We look forward to the City Council's feedback and to continuing to take unprecedented steps towards more affordable housing in Kansas City."

The Affordable Housing Trust Fund is committed to promoting, preserving, and creating long-term affordable housing for extremely low, very low, and moderate-income households. The city-wide initiative aims to safeguard the affordability of neighborhoods, prevent large-scale displacement, and foster opportunities for homeownership.

The Affordable Housing Trust Fund continues the City's efforts to make housing more affordable and sustainable for all Kansas Citians.

• Since the City's Right to Counsel program launched on June 1, 2022, hundreds of tenants and families facing eviction are being helped with legal and rental assistance.
• Distributing $20.6 million in emergency rental assistance funds to nearly 4,400 households in Kansas City.
• Using community input to develop a "Vision for Housing" that outlines the plan to create 10,000 new affordable housing units by 2027.
• Working to convert nearly 3,000 vacant lots and homes owned by the City's Land Bank into affordable housing.
• Creating the City's first homelessness prevention coordinator creating the City's first tenant advocate positions.
• Converting a former hotel into permanent supportive housing and emergency transitional housing for those experiencing homelessness.
• In September, the City Council approved changing City code to allow for the rental and use of accessory dwelling units. Previously, property or homeowners could not legally rent or live in detached dwellings unless it was an already existing carriage home. Now residents can use the space for family and friends or rent the space out to a tenant which creates a new option for affordable housing citywide.

The Housing Trust Fund Board's list of recommendations will go before the Neighborhood Planning and Development Committee for approval on November 29, 2023. Upon approval, it will go before City Council for final approval on November 30, 2023.

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