HOUSTON — The NHP Foundation (NHPF) has received $12 million in funding to develop a 73-unit affordable seniors housing community in Houston’s Third Ward.
The City of Houston’s Department of Housing and Community Development administered the federal Disaster Relief funds for NHPF’s ground-up construction in partnership with Change Happens CDC.
“These funds are part of the federal disaster relief provided to the City Of Houston to aid in recovery from Hurricane Harvey,” says Tom McCasland, director of housing and community development for the City of Houston. “This project will, in part, replace housing stock destroyed by that storm. In addition to the Disaster Relief funds, this project will be financed through Low Income Housing Tax Credits and tax-exempt bonds.”
Change Happens CDC, as part of its decades-long effort to end blight and improve the neighborhood, purchased the land. According to Rev. Leslie Smith II, founder and CEO of Change Happens CDC, those efforts include “buying crack houses and tearing them down for the past 30 years.”
“Gentrification is sweeping through the Third Ward displacing generations of African American families,” says Smith. “By acting now in partnership with The NHP Foundation, we are able to provide some of the affordable housing needed to prevent that displacement.”