Thanks to two retired real estate developers, tenants of the Carmen Marine apartments may soon be able to buy and operate their low-income, 300-unit, HUD-subsidized high-rise.
If all goes as planned, the public-private partnership will be the first resident purchase of its kind under the new National Affordable Housing Act.
Former developers Howard Landau and Herbert Heyman, along with members of the Organization of the NorthEast and the Carmen Marine Tenants Association, signed an agreement Monday to lend $250,000 to tenants to pay for legal costs and other preliminary expenses before they buy the building at 5030 N. Marine Drive.
The loan and building sale are part of an attempt to improve living conditions and make sure the property, just off Lake Shore Drive, isn`t gentrified.
”This is our dream come true,” said Kathy Osberger, tenants association president. ”Thanks to this program, low-income residents who never stood a chance to buy a home will be the proud owners of this beautiful lakefront property.”
Through the Jewish Council`s Community Ventures Program, Landau and Heyman will provide money for the 20-year-old graystone under the 1990 federal act. The law was passed in response to the potential displacement of thousands of tenants because of skyrocketing rent increases and conversion of properties to market rents. The law provides incentives for owners of HUD-subsidized buildings to stay in the program and adds perks to those who sell to tenants. The HUD program provided low-interest loans to building developers as long as they set aside some units for low-income residents. But the loans, many of them for 40 years, could be paid off in half the time, releasing building operators from the rent restrictions.
”We recognize the importance of building communities and relationships, not just bricks and mortar,” said Jane Ramsey, JCUA executive director.
The JCUA Community Ventures Program is a pilot project that has developed new strategies for bringing investment from private individuals to community- based housing development projects in low income and minority communities.
Under the 1990 act, after a building is appraised, the government gives the tenants grants needed for the purchase price and for rehabilitation and professional management.
After four years, management responsibilities will fall to the tenants cooperative, which would have to go through HUD to have changes in rent payments and any other administrative decisions cleared.
