WELLSTON 鈥 Nearly four years after 狐狸视频 County intervened to save them from the wrecking ball, the rehab of nearly 200 Wellston public housing units is finally poised to begin.
Financing closed Friday for the $44 million project that will rebuild 186 public housing units scattered throughout the inner ring suburb, one of the poorest in 狐狸视频 County. Construction is set to begin this spring, and units could start leasing this fall, potentially adding hundreds of residents back to a city whose population has dwindled to 1,500 from 2,500 in 2000.
Wellston Mayor Nate Griffin and other Wellston officials worried the loss of the units would devastate the city鈥檚 population. And housing advocates argued retaining project-based vouchers 鈥 those tied to specific public housing projects 鈥 are more effective at keeping families in affordable housing.
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鈥淭his plan brings back the element of hope,鈥 Griffin said in an interview. 鈥淭his is great for the whole 狐狸视频 region.鈥
The deal has been a long time coming. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which had taken over the housing units from the Wellston Housing Authority in 1996 following mismanagement and poor property conditions, planned to demolish the housing units and instead give residents vouchers, commonly known as Section 8. The Housing Authority of 狐狸视频 County signed off on the plan in May 2019.
But the plan hit a roadblock in new 狐狸视频 County Executive Sam Page, whose administration took power in May 2019 after former county executive Steve Stenger resigned in the wake of corruption charges. Page, who said he was concerned that many landlords refused to accept Section 8 housing vouchers and opposed what he said was the Trump administration鈥檚 effort to 鈥済et out of the public housing business,鈥 refused to sign off on the plan.
鈥淚鈥檓 proud to have stopped the wholesale demolition project that the Trump administration had planned for Wellston,鈥 Page said in a statement Wednesday. 鈥淲orking closely with Mayor Griffin and the Housing Authority, we are now at a historic moment in the revitalization of Wellston. My office will continue its support of investing in areas of 狐狸视频 County that need it the most.鈥
But the pandemic, supply chain disruptions and rising interest rates delayed the project鈥檚 closing until last week.
In the meantime, the number of families in the units has fallen from over 100 to less than 20.
By August 2020, Wellston had chosen a developer to rehab the units: Ruston, La.-based BGC Advantage, . It applied for and received $20 million in federal low-income housing tax credits to help finance the project. Now, a lending package put together with loans from the housing authority, 狐狸视频 County, and tax credit specialists Fallbrook Financial and Sterling Bank, means construction can finally begin.
鈥淲e believe Wellston is poised for a resurgence and are honored to play a part in helping this once-vibrant African-American community thrive,鈥 Holly Knight, CEO of Knight Development, said in a statement.
The remaining families will have priority applying for the 186 housing vouchers tied to the rehabbed units, and applications for the remaining project vouchers will open in the coming months, said Shannon Koenig, executive director of the county housing authority.
Koenig said partners such as Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, nonprofit and the Wellston Tenants Association have 鈥渞eally stayed at the table鈥 and are working with the authority to develop complementary programming. Wellston has also applied for a state grant for sidewalks and other infrastructure improvements.
鈥淲hat can we do over the next two years to make sure the housing gets off to the right start?鈥 Koenig said.
Wellston established a new nonprofit, the Wellston Community Empowerment Corporation, to participate in the project. After 15 years, when the tax credits run out and rent restrictions lapse, the nonprofit has the option to take ownership of the housing.
As part of the transaction, the developer is splitting a portion of its development fee with the nonprofit, Griffin said. And it will pay $4.6 million to the nonprofit over the coming years under a seller financing agreement. Griffin, who chairs the nonprofit, said those proceeds will be saved to ensure the nonprofit has the capacity to acquire and manage the housing when it takes ownership next decade.
Griffin pointed to the new subdivision from the Community Impact Network鈥檚 Equity Homes nonprofit as evidence there is demand for housing in the city. And he said other developers are considering new housing in the Lulu Heights area. Wellston Community Empowerment鈥檚 ownership in the affordable housing, Griffin said, 鈥渕akes sure the people in this community are part of its development.鈥