By Claire Decatur, WIBW
The Topeka Affordable Housing Trust Fund has held nearly $1 million for about two years. Topeka JUMP is now asking the city to activate that funding.
Topeka JUMP says 44% of renters in Shawnee Co. cannot afford their housing and that number is on the rise, so they would like to see the funds, they say have already been allocated to work toward a solution, be put towards an affordable housing trust fund.
“The longer we wait to address the affordable housing shortage more and more families will have to struggle to meet ends meet, here and now,” Topeka JUMP member Delmar White.
“Unless people are connected to groups, its almost impossible to find affordable housing,” Topeka Center for Peace & Justice Executive Director Carl Frazier.
JUMP says the funds won’t cover the entire housing project but will help cover the cost of developers.
“Across the country, housing trust funds have been used primarily to provide that gap funding, which is usually 10% or less of their total funding for their project. So a $1 million project would be 100,000 and gap funding. It’s the last little bit of funding they need to actually finance their project,” JUMP’s Affordable Housing Steering Committee member Anton Ahrens said.
JUMP is also asking the city to maintain the affordable housing fund with an annual $2 million allotment. Frazier says this is overdue.
“How can we help and its always the question is it a community effort, we are the community and we’re willing to help to find a solution,” Frazier said.
The City of Topeka told 13 NEWS it is working to identify a sustainable funding source to best use these dollars for Topeka.
View the original story here.
