Westgate Infill Housing (DRI#3)
LOCATION: Various locations in North Westgate Estates neighborhood
PROJECT PARTNERS:
- Palm Beach County BCC & Administration
- Palm Beach County Department of Housing & Economic Development
- US Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD)
- Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO)
- Neighborhood Renaissance, Inc. (NR)
- Florida Community Loan Fund (FCLF)
- Westgate CRA
COST: Approx. $3.7 million
- Palm Beach County 2005 DRI#3 allocations – $2 million
COMPLETION: 18 homes completed through FY12/13
This infill housing project was made possible through a partnership of Palm Beach County’s Department Housing & Economic Development (DHED), Neighborhood Renaissance, Inc. (NR), Florida Community Loan Fund (FCLF) and the Westgate CRA. Palm Beach County (PBC) provided more than $2 million toward the $3.7 million project from the 2005 Disaster Recovery Initiative (DRI), a program established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and administered through Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity.
The DRI funds were designated by HUD to help cities, counties and states recover from natural disasters. The program has enabled the county to work with public and local housing agencies to replace and rehabilitate homes, improve drainage infrastructure, and construct hurricane hardening improvements to buildings as a result of damage sustained from Hurricane Wilma. The CRA entered into a public-private partnership with local nonprofit, NR, to acquire properties in South Westgate Estates and build affordable single-family homes and a two-unit townhouse to replace housing that was severely damaged by Hurricane Wilma in 2005.
The project was awarded DRI funds as a result of the innovative development approach and the quality housing units proposed by the CRA-NR development team. The project was successful because of the CRA’s site control of the eight lots needed for the grant and its willingness provide patient capital in the form of a zero interest loan to be leveraged with the FCLF construction loan. The CRA-NR development agreement allowed NR to repay the CRA for the land in 13 payments within 30 days of each property’s closing.
The three- and four-bedroom homes meet green building standards and contain energy-efficient features. The homes were completed in October 2012 and sold by the Summer of 2013 to persons of low- and moderate-income, in keeping with HUD’s national objectives.
