Westside Housing Announces Plan to Redevelop School Buildings into Affordable Housing
The Westside Housing Organization has announced plans to transform 5.5 acres housing long-vacant school buildings into a 10-building mixed-use affordable housing development,
By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor
The Westside Housing Organization has announced plans to transform 5.5 acres housing long-vacant school buildings into a 10-building mixed-use affordable housing development, The Kansas City Business Journal reports.
The announcement was made at a community meeting. Gloria Ortiz-Fisher, the organization’s executive director, said the plan calls for the transformation of the long-vacant Switzer High School and West Junior High located in Kansas City into 98 units of low-income and market-rate housing. The properties have been vacant for over 30 years, and the new mix, 60 percent low-income and 40 percent market-rate, aims to revive the site located along Madison Avenue between 18th and 20th streets.
The Westside Housing Organization has submitted an application to the Missouri Housing Development Commission for an allocation of federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. The commission is expected to issue a response by Jan. 1st.
The project is being designed by Kansas City-based BNIM Architects and is set to feature one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Ortiz-Fisher said the development will also feature space for educational facilities and confirmed the Westside Housing Organization has spoken with William Jewell College and the University of Missouri-Kansas City about using the space.
The development would be similar to the low-income housing at the Villa del Sol, located across the street from the proposed site, and would not be a Section 8 or voucher public housing project. Eligible applicants would have to earn at least $1,200 a month but not make more than 60 percent of Jackson County’s median income in order to live in the fixed-income housing.
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Logo Courtesy of: www.westsidehousing.org
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