Partnership is Key
Partnership is a key to success for CIHA
It’s been a great summer for partnerships at Cook Inlet Housing Authority. From facility improvements and home repair to rental rehabilitation and neighborhood revitalization, the work of Cook Inlet Housing Authority is greatly enhanced by the dedication of partners committed to affordable housing.
Cook Inlet Housing Authority recently launched a non-profit subsidiary, Na Qenq’a, which entered into contracts with the Municipality of Anchorage to offer home repair and rental rehabilitation loans. CIHA also signed an agreement with Wells Fargo for a line of credit and loans totaling $1 million to help launch a brand new neighborhood revitalization program in Mt. View. Finally, CIHA has had an abundance of volunteer labor this summer - revamping gardens and rehabilitating 30 homes - thanks to Americorps and a faith-based organization called Group Work Camps.
MOA Loan Products
The Home Repair Loan Program will offer low-income Anchorage homeowners low interest-rate loans of 1-3%, enabling them to make major home, weatherization and accessibility improvements. The maximum amount of assistance for each property will be $43,750, subject to limitations. The first 80% of the total funds for each project will be in the form of a loan to be repaid to the MOA. The remaining 20% will be a grant from CIHA that does not have to be repaid.
The primary purpose of the Municipality of Anchorage (MOA) Rental Rehabilitation Loan Program is to upgrade and remodel rental units for low-income tenants within the Anchorage area. The program offers the owners of multi-family properties 3% interest loans of up to $7,500 per unit occupied by a low-income tenant.
CIHA is currently in the process of finalizing the policies and procedures for these two programs and hopes to offer them to the public by mid-September.
Neighborhood Revitalization
CIHA’s Neighborhood Revitalization Program will provide investment capital in Mt. View, initially with the intent of attracting private and other community investment necessary to improve the quality of housing, assist low-income families in becoming homeowners, reduce crime, and help neighborhood organizations achieve their community goals. Our goal is to ensure that our efforts will have a positive impact on our target neighborhood’s image, its physical condition and market value, and overall neighborhood management.
Specific activities may include such activities as: acquisition, renovation, demolition, reconstruction, and ultimately resale of existing housing stock (multi-family properties may be held in CIHA’s inventory and managed as affordable housing) and purchase and appropriate development of unimproved property, as well as improving homeowners’ access to loan products for home improvements.
Volunteer Efforts
Between June 16 and June 20, Cook Inlet Housing Authority hosted approximately 200 volunteers from the lower 48 who wielded paintbrushes and hammers all over Anchorage, making significant improvements to local neighborhoods.
While in Anchorage, the volunteers rehabilitated 30 homes providing repairs such as limited roofing, porch and wheelchair ramp construction, interior and exterior painting and weatherization.
The volunteers were with Group Work Camps, a non-profit, interdenominational Christian volunteer home-repair organization headquartered in Loveland, Colorado. This summer, an anticipated 24,000 young people and adults will participate in 70 Group Workcamps in communities across the United States and Canada. The kids actually paid a participation fee of $435 plus air-fare to volunteer their time in the Anchorage community.
“Our 200 volunteers represent about 8,000 hours of volunteer labor - worth at least $50,000 - to the community,” said Carol Gore, President and CEO of Cook Inlet Housing Authority. “We’re thrilled to have them back in Anchorage again."
Group Work Camps visted Anchorage in the summer of 2001 with 400 volunteers. 60 homes were rehabilitated that summer.
In addition, a crew of eight Americorps volunteers spent the summer in Anchorage splitting their time between projects for their sponsor, the Anchorage Boys and Girls Club, and Cook Inlet Housing Authority. While in Alaska, the crew totally revamped the gardens at Cook Inlet Housing Authority’s elder facilities in Anchorage and Ninilchik, offering the residents of those facilities a much more user-friendly and attractive area in which to grow not just flowers, but also fresh vegetables.
This Americorps team has been traveling around the country for ten months, tutoring adults in GED preparation and distributing food and clothing in Sacramento, constructing a handicap accessible trail in Sedona and tutoring and mentoring students in San Diego, just to name a few. Anchorage was the last stop on their tour of duty.