A proposal to build 30 new rental homes in Aurora that would be available to people with low to middle incomes is the only project in the Joplin area to receive a recommendation for tax-credit funding by the staff of the Missouri Housing Development Commission.
None of the remaining proposals for Joplin or Duquesne, including the controversial Lynnwood proposal in Duquesne, will be recommended by the staff to the commission for this round of funding. The commission meets Friday in Columbia.
At its meeting in December, the commission approved the eight projects recommended in Joplin and Webb City to replace apartments and houses destroyed by the May 22 tornado. The effort was part of Gov. Jay Nixon’s Jumpstart Joplin program announced last summer to help provide housing for those displaced by the storm. The state gave Joplin $90 million in housing tax credits, and gave Berkeley, a St. Louis suburb also hit by a tornado last year, $10 million.
Additionally, Nixon’s program allocated $22 million for other forms of short-term housing assistance in Joplin, including construction financing help for developers, down payment assistance for storm victims, a Neighborhood Preservation Program through the Missouri Department of Economic Development, and Community Development Block Grant funds.
After the MHDC’s decision in December, 21 area housing projects that were not approved remained in the running for $80 million in tax credits the commission has to award in a second round of funding.
The commission staff evaluated 104 proposals across the state for that funding, according to a report posted on the MHDC’s website. That study included a review of the project applications to determine which ones best met the commission’s criteria, along with public input received at hearings and recommendations by local government entities.
Twenty-four projects — five in Kansas City, nine in St. Louis and 10 outstate, including the one in Aurora — will be recommended. The staff report noted that none of the recommended projects received any public opposition in public hearings.
The Aurora project, Brookside Terrace Estates, would be built by Gardner Development of Springfield. The staff report notes that one of the reasons for the recommendation is that employment in Aurora and Monett has been increasing.
Joplin city officials had said last month that they did not expect any more of the 21 projects proposed for the immediate area to receive funding. Those projects were proposed in Joplin, Duquesne, Webb City, Carl Junction and Neosho.
“I’m glad to the hear the MHDC staff did consider the public’s input in their recommendations,” said Lisa Daugherty, a Duquesne resident who had led opposition to the Lynnwood proposal. “I felt like our concerns had fallen on deaf ears with the Duquesne council,” which had filed a letter of support for the plan. The proposal called for 40 low-income houses on 10 acres.
Other projects
OTHER OUTSTATE FUNDING recommended by the commission staff would go to Sedalia, Kahoka, Jackson, Willow Springs, St. Joseph, Springfield, Maryville and two projects in Columbia.
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