Cumberland County reaches funding agreement with Kingdom Community Development Corporation to develop affordable housing in Spring Lake

By Staff Report, posted Jan 12, 2024 on BizFayetteville.com

The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners has officially reached a funding agreement with the Kingdom Community Development Corporation (KCDC). The KCDC and Cumberland County came to this agreement to continue meeting housing funding guidelines specified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

According to those guidelines, Cumberland County Community Development must set aside at least 15 percent of its HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) allocation for specific projects to be undertaken by a private nonprofit, community-based

organization called a Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO).

The CHDO must meet certain requirements such as: maintaining a certain legal status, organizational structure, and capacity and experience.

Community Development has an open application process to solicit entities interested in serving as the County’s designated CHDO. In addition, Community Development holds CHDO workshops to draw interest from other entities interested in developing affordable housing in the community.

Kingdom Community Development Corporation was selected through the Program Year (PY) 2022 Request for Proposal process to provide additional housing units targeting low-income households. In addition, Kingdom Community Development Corporation has served as the County’s designated CHDO for over a decade and has been involved in expanding new affordable housing for both homebuyers and renters.

Community Development desires to enter into an agreement with Kingdom Community Development Corporation to construct six affordable housing units.

The Elizabeth Street Project Phase II will consist of the construction of six single family housing units. Each unit will consist of three bedrooms, two bathrooms and consist of approximately 1,400 square feet.

Director of Community Development Dee Taylor gave a presentation to Commissioners highlighting the plans for the Elizabeth Street Project Phase II which will consist of the construction of six single family housing units.

Each unit will consist of three bedrooms, two bathrooms and consist of approximately 1,400 square feet. Contractors of the homes will also have to meet energy efficiency standards to allow the future homeowner to save on utilities.

The units will target low income potential homeowners.

“The goal of the program is to ensure that the housing costs of our potential homebuyers does not exceed 30 percent of their total household income, or does not exceed that front end ratio,” shared Taylor. “And so, in order to ensure that the homes are affordable to our target potential homebuyers, we want to make sure that they have access to other subsidies or programs that can address the gap, so they have access to gap financing or other grants that can offset those costs.”

Following the successful completion of Phase I of the project which consisted of the successful construction of five family homes, two homes have been sold to qualified low income residents, with a third deal still in progress. The final two units from phase one are still looking for qualified residents.

The project site is located between Elizabeth Street and Lee Street in Spring Lake. Community Development has funding of approximately $900,000 for this project. Kingdom Community Development Corporation will use additional resources as leverage.

This project will meet the following objectives outlined in Community Development’s PY 2020-2024.

Consolidated Plan (Five-Year Strategic Plan):

· Promote and assist in developing homeownership opportunities for low-and moderate-income households; and

· Promote and assist in the development of new affordable housing inventory for both rental and sales housing.

Once completed, the project will serve households with an income at or below 80 percent of the area median income.

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