Housing & Neighborhood Development Committee
The Housing and Neighborhood Committee is responsible for CRDA housing projects and those related to neighborhood development as defined by state legislation. Committee meetings are held at 9:00 a.m. on the first Friday of each month.
CRDA has an open invitation for applications in the CRDA District.
Housing Development
CRDA seeks housing projects that are 80% market rate and 20% affordable. CRDA requires its funds to be leveraged by private lending and/or equity contributions and the amount of assistance and its nature are determined on a case by case basis. In defining CRDA assistance, the Authority will first examine financing gaps that may exist between the cost of construction and completed value; and secondly for gaps that may exist between completed value and private debt and equity. Each will be quantified for possible CRDA assistance. The assistance may take the shape of equity with preferred status, a traditional mortgage, or ‘soft’ second mortgages. Development budgets will be reviewed for consistency with marketplace costs, per unit subsidy amounts, developer fee percentage, contingency and capital, operating reserves, and the certainty of other funding sources.
In order to have your proposed project considered, please provide the following:
- Cover letter describing the project, including address and ownership information and identifying the need for and amount of CRDA assistance requested;
- Development Budget including sources and uses, hard and soft construction estimates;
- 15 year Operating Pro Forma showing rent and revenue, maintenance and operating expenses, taxes, debt service coverage capacity, cash flow projections. Please review the CRDA Housing Application and Underwriting Process
A review by staff and the Housing Committee will occur to determine eligibility for funding and a draft term sheet will be prepared usually within 30 days. Full and formal Consolidated Application will be necessary prior to Housing Committee formal action and subsequent information requests may include, but not be limited to appraisals, commitment letters, construction bids, associated contracts, insurances, and bonds.
Funding assistance must be approved by the full CRDA Board upon the recommendation of the staff and the Housing Committee.
Neighborhood Development
Beginning in 2015, the Connecticut General Assembly charged CRDA with looking beyond its downtown Hartford district and engaging in projects in other areas of the City.
To that end, a total of $40 million ($20 million in both fiscal years 2016 and 2017) has been designated for infrastructure, economic development, and housing projects in Hartford outside of our district. A portion of the funding is to be dedicated to the federally-designated Promise Zone, a 3.11 square-mile area encompassing the Clay Arsenal, Northeast, and Upper Albany neighborhoods.
Projects
Albany-Woodland Redevelopment Proposal
Neighborhood Security Fellowship Program and Projects
Public Act 16-4 (May Special Session) establishes a Neighborhood Security Fellowship Progam-a pilot program designed to foster neighborhood safety in urban environments and serve as a blueprint to reduce neighborhood gun violence state-wide. Aimed at individuals between the ages of 18 and 24 who are most likely to be perpetrators or victims of gun violence, the program will, among other things, provide life skills training, job training, and assist with work placement.
CRDA will work with the City to operate the program and to place fellows in select public construction projects located in the Promise Zone (“Neighborhood Security Projects”). CRDA has received $500,000 in State bond funds for the Neighborhood Security Fellowship Program and another $2 million for Neighborhood Security Projects.
