A $20 million “workforce housing” tax credit development, financed via the federal Community Reinvestment Act, is proposing 60 one- to three-bedroom, three-story high rental units on five acres of property along Pennbrook Parkway in Upper Gwynedd, near the border with Lansdale Borough, as well as an expansion of the township’s transit overlay district, according to The Reporter.
The development would require a zoning change, land development plans, and further approval processes, and it is in the very early stages. Yet, the first public presentation of the proposal at last week’s Board of Commissioners session by New Jersey-based developer The Walters Group got residents heated over arguments of race and income, that it forced a recess by the Commissioners’ President, according to The Reporter.
According to the report, residents went back and forth over if those opposed to the project really do not want low incomes or different races moving into the township. This led to a recess, and then several minutes passed before the meeting reconvened under cooler heads.
The presentation was led by Walters Group Pennsylvania Director of Development Kimberly Krauter, a 20-year-plus veteran of aging adult community management and nonprofit organization management, including 14 years as COO with Advanced Living Communities (Derstine Run, Schwenkfeld Manor, North Penn Commons).
All three of those communities were also built using the federal tax credit financing, Krauter said at the meeting.
According to the article, Walters Group is awarded tax credits, as stated in the CRA, through Pennsylvania that are sold to large banks. In exchange, the developer gets up-front financing for the project.
“It’s not funded through taxpayer money in any fashion,” Krauter said in the article. She said banks are required to reinvest in the community, and when they do, they get points. Bigger banks require bigger reinvestments, she said.
“And so huge banks, that make tons and tons of money, are required to reinvest in the community. And they come in and buy these tax credits from us,” Krauter is quoted in the article. “We will be arm-in-arm, lockstep, more than married, to an investor. And they’ll basically write a check up front for – I’m looking at $13 million or $14 million in equity coming in from an investor … We get the money up front, so we don’t have a big mortgage.”
A few residents have cried foul over the project, stating it will “urbanize” Upper Gwynedd and that it was “subsidized housing” and bringing an “urban mess” to the township, per the article. One resident called it “an experiment,” and Commissioners President Denise Hull told him the density of units per acre was less than Pennbrook apartments across the street.
Another resident was told by Krauter that, separate from the traditional “Section Eight” subsidized housing people think of, a low-income housing tax credit program was designed in the 1990s to create more affordable housing and spread poverty around, according to the article.
“This is not subsidized housing,” Krauter said in the article. “This is tax credits … not one penny of taxpayer money is going into this.”
Krauter told the public they would not be market-rate apartments, and thus, rent must stay within guidelines set based on state requirements for Montgomery County. According to the report, of the 60 units, four are slated to go to the lowest income level set by the state, nine would go to those paying market rate, and the rest would be rented to those affording at least 60% of market rate levels. Krauter said $40,000 a year would be the minimum that most would make who live there.
Rent would be between $913 and $1,524 per month, according to the article. Each unit would have its own front door and driveway. The complex would have a clubhouse, community room, fitness center, computer lab, and basketball court, according to the report. The interior of each unit would have granite countertops, wood flooring, washers and dryers, and LEED-certified features.
“We believe that it serves people who already work and volunteer in your town,” said Walters Group VP of Land Development Ed Speitel. “These are people who are in the workforce, many of whom already work in Upper Gwynedd, who already volunteer … they tend to be healthcare workers, retail workers, first responders, even certain positions at Merck, a vet tech, a waitress at the local tavern, these are the types of jobs that people have in our communities like this.”
Read more on the interactions at the meeting here.
See also:
Towamencin Government Study Commission Announces Town Hall on Home Rule Charter
Lansdale to Consider Hiring Consultant for Single Hauler Trash Study
Proposed Commercial Montgomery Township Development is Deja Vu for Residents
Upper Gwynedd Pursuing $1.15 Million Grant to Help Acquire Martin Tract
