I have been with Community Frameworks for over two months now, and one thing I have learned a great deal about the non-profit world is that projects can move quite quickly, or, as is the case of my manufactured home project, they can move at a snail's pace.
A project that is moving along rather quickly is an apartment building in Spokane Valley. Community Frameworks (CF) is currently put out a request for qualifications (RFQ) to the construction world, and are interviewing five companies over the next few days. The project they are all fighting for involves the renovation of an low-income apartment building. CF is closing on the building currently, and using Washington Works (only two projects were funded this year through this fund due to the ever growing deficit) funds to complete the renovation. The building was built in the 70s and has not been updated since that time and deferred maintenance has taken its toll on it as well. CF and the chosen construction team will go in, four units at a time, and remodel each apartment over the next year. The current residents will be moved to vacant units while their unit is being renovated. The goal is to have the mortgage paid off in the next 5-10 years, and once this occurs CF will lower the rent to further their cause of providing safe and healthy housing for low-income families. It is a very exciting project for Community Frameworks and has kept Chris Venne, my advisor, very busy for the past month.
During this time, I have been working as best I can on developing some sort of plan or system for CFs use of manufactured homes in their Home Starts program. As I have stated in previous conversations, I am here to research the viability of using manufactured homes in the low and moderate income housing market. We know it can work, but we need to know if it will work in the communities that we work in. There are several questions that need to be asked. How does the cost of a unit compare to a stick-built home? Can a manufactured home be used in typical residential neighborhoods and developments? What are the financing options for our clients? Etc. Etc. Etc.
I had a dinner meeting with four of the lead staff of Community Frameworks last night, and we began working out a more definitive plan for the remainder of the year. Many tasks were handed out to each member of the meeting. I was tasked with finding out the sales of manufactured homes in the state of Washington over the past 5 years. I am also tasked with finding those markets that would best suit this new program we are attempting to begin. From recent conversations with dealers in the Spokane area sales have been really slow over the past two years, which can be expected. I will be creating graphics and diagrams to display my findings which I will share on here.
As for the mobile home parks in Airway Heights (here) that project has stalled indefinitely. The project is a very touchy subject. Any time you want to move people from their homes to somewhere new can lead to a massive implosion. The political powers-that-be are not willing to back us on the project. They are not willing to get themselves dirty, especially if no other jurisdictions that rely on Fairchild Airforce Base, are willing to step in and help as well. This project is going to be a long and drawn out process. The situation is troublesome all around. If something occurs, I will post it here for all.
I have scheduled courses and my travel arrangements have been made for me to spend 5 days in Washington DC for the NeighborWorks Training Institute. The trip will begin December 5th and I will return on December 10th. This will be my first visit to DC, and I am really excited. I will be learning from instructors who have been in the affordable housing and community building field for 10+ years. It is going to be quite a week. I do have a full day free, so I expect to do some sightseeing and exploring. There will be a post to follow as well as photos.
Thank you to those that read these long-winded entries. I hope you take something from them. Please leave comments to let me know.
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