Springs affordable housing delayed

While the official notification won’t be made for a couple weeks, the senior project manager at MidPen’s Sonoma Springs mixed-use housing site said the chances of landing tax credits from the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee in this round of allotments is probably slim.

This means that the single-family project won’t break ground as soon as MidPen, a nonprofit corporation, had hoped.

The project consists of a 60-unit family affordable housing complex, a 40-unit senior affordable housing complex, a 6,500-square-foot commercial development, a community garden, a shared playground with the Sonoma Charter School and an easement for the Central Sonoma Valley Trail. The housing development is being handled by MidPen, while the commercial aspect is being developed by the Vailetti Family Trust. MidPen and the Vailetti Family Trust have been working together since 2010.

But the MidPen is already working on its application for the next round of allocations from the state next March. Tax credit allocations are the main source of funding for affordable housing projects.

Scott Johnson, MidPen’s senior project manager, said the nonprofit will have more funding available for the next allocation cycle.

“Looking at the self scoring (on the applications), we don’t anticipate receiving any tax credits this time,” Johnson said. “A lot of pieces can come together, but …”

So, the nonprofit is working on getting more county funding. The county’s Community Development Commission is accepting applications for another $2 million pool of affordable housing funds, and the application is due today.

“The applications are due Friday, the CDC makes its recommendation in October and the supervisors take final action in November,” Johnson said. “Affordable housing is a high need, high demand but low resource item.”

The county application process pits nonprofit affordable housing developers against each other in a competitive process.

“The commission weighs worthy projects against each other,” he said. “We feel confident because of the outcome it will achieve, prior commitments the supervisors have made and a priority of putting affordable housing in the Springs,” he said.

While the project may be delayed, that might not be an entirely bad thing.

“We heard that the Highway 12 project has been pushed back to next spring,” Johnson said. “If we start construction ahead of the Highway 12 project, it could complicate things for us. We need the county to go first and then we follow. The sequencing would be more efficient.”

So far, MidPen had about $2 million from various housing funds and has a commitment from Union Bank to finance $18.5 million for the family affordable housing project. “The commitment from Union Bank is for construction costs,” Johnson said.

Despite the possibility of not receiving any tax credit allotments next month, Johnson is upbeat.

“We’ve made great progress,” he said. “We’ll have additional funding on our next request (for tax credit allotments).”

At an open house back in February, MidPen officials explained that rents would range from about $360 a month to $890 a month.

“But it would vary depending on household income, number of people in the family and the number of bedrooms,” said Johnson.

Johnson said the family complex would contain 19 one-bedroom apartments, 22 two-bedroom apartments and 19 three-bedroom units, while most of the senior housing would be one-bedroom units.

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