by: Zena Taher/KSNW-TV
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Construction crews are on the ground at the former Park Elementary School in Wichita.
This week, some funding was approved to turn it into a homeless shelter and Multi-Agency Center (MAC). However, funding to create affordable housing in the area is still up in the air.
Wichita City Council members approved millions for the initial work to turn Park Elementary into the MAC and this season’s emergency winter shelter. However, the plan was to also build 50 affordable housing units on the Park Elementary site and 125 units at 10th and Topeka, a few blocks away. Parts of that plan are already falling through.
“(The affordable housing) would be designed for persons who need intensive wraparound services, and its proximity to the MAC is what makes that possible,” said Sally Stang, housing director for the City of Wichita.
The units would be for people who need more intensive support and face chronic homelessness.
Fifty units were on the elementary school grounds, and initially, another 125 units were a few blocks away. Those 175 units would cost $40 million to build.
The plan was to use tax credits from the state to fund the housing.
“That application for tax credits was not selected for an award,” said Stang.
The Kansas Housing Resources Corporation (KHRC) denied the application because it funded a different housing development within one and a half miles of Park Elementary within the past two years.
“It would’ve required a waiver to our limitation on the 1.5-mile radius in the span of two years, and we declined that waiver just because we wanted to make sure that we were distributing these resources equitably across the state,” said Emily Sharp, communications director for the KHRC.
Without the award, the city is focusing on building at least some of the 50 affordable housing units planned at Park Elementary.
“We have to put the other 125 units on the backburner for maybe a potential future application. That has not been decided yet,” Stang said.
The city does not yet have all the funding needed to build 50 units at Park.
According to Stang, the city could adjust the number of housing units depending on how much funding is secured.
She says they don’t know exactly how much it would cost to build 50 units, but she estimates around $12 million.
The city has promised to contribute $5 million from the sale of its existing affordable homes to the project. The housing department also plans to pull $4.7 million in HOME-ARP funds. That leaves them still a couple of million dollars short.
“We have to do an evaluation as to different potential resources to try to get the funding that’s necessary,” Stang said.
The city’s housing department is planning to ask the state to help fund the MAC, including the housing units, during the legislative session. They haven’t broken down how much they will request. During the last legislative session, they asked for $20 million, according to the city’s housing department.
Once they secure funding, Stang says they’re looking at around 18 months of construction time.
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated there were 125 units that would cost $40 million to build.
This article was republished here with the permission of: KSNW-TV