Mountain View Earns National Recognition
Cook Inlet Housing Authority's (CIHA) Mountain View Village was honored in June by the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition (AHTCC) during a luncheon in Washington D.C. CIHA earned an honorable mention for Mountain View Village as part of the 13th Annual Charles L. Edson Tax Credit Excellence Awards program. Senator Ted Stevens was on hand to present the award.
The Charles L. Edson Tax Credit Excellence Awards are presented each year to the most outstanding tax credit developments throughout the United States. This year there were 48 entries from 23 states. Mountain View Village was one of four projects to earn an honorable mention in the Metropolitan/Urban category representing communities of 50,000 people or more. The first place award went to "Solara," a development in Poway, Calif. Other winners were from Seattle, Wash., Rochester, N.Y. and Portland, Ore.
According to Ronne Thielen, President of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Coalition, Mountain View Village is noteworthy in part because many residents will have the option of purchasing their rental units down the road, and because the development marks a growing trend in the affordable housing market -- creating single family affordable homes in an industry that is almost entirely focused on multifamily units.
"In many areas of the country, homeownership is increasingly becoming out of reach," said Thielen. "It's quite an accomplishment to be able to offer affordable, high quality rental opportunities to families and the prospect of future homeownership at the same time."
Mountain View Village -- as CIHA has dubbed its revitalized properties scattered throughout the Mountain View neighborhood -- is comprised of nearly 70 new single-family homes, 16 new duplex units and more than 40 new or nearly new apartment units all of which provide quality housing for more than 130 lower-income Anchorage families.
CIHA has made buying "the worst of the worst" properties in Mountain View a part of its strategy for effecting the greatest change in the neighborhood. CIHA has targeted the most run-down properties as well as properties associated with excessive criminal activity. Of the 88 lots acquired to date, CIHA has demolished more than 75 unsafe homes that were deteriorated beyond the point of saving.
Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), issued by Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, have been a key finance mechanism in the Mountain View Revitalization efforts representing more than one-third of the total $42 million invested to date by Cook Inlet Housing and its finance partners. Centerline Capital Group (formerly CharterMac), which through its subsidiaries is one of the nation's leading full service multifamily finance companies, has provided tax credit equity financing for Mountain View Village as well as three other affordable rental properties developed by CIHA.
CIHA's application to the Charles L. Edson Awards program was formally supported by Mountain View Village residents, the Mountain View Community Council, Mayor Mark Begich on behalf of the Municipality of Anchorage, and The Rasmuson Foundation.