NEWS FLASHES
Northwood Renaissance Helps Public School Teacher to Become a Homeowner
Through the Community Land Trust
West Palm Beach, Florida- Neighborhood Renaissance, f.k.a. Northwood Renaissance client and Public School Teacher Jean Bayol on Friday, May 25, 2007 purchased a Community Land Trust (CLT) home in the City of West Palm Beach. The agency partnered with various public and private entities in the community to empower Jean to obtain homeownership. Included amongst the entities participating in Northwood Renaissance’s CLT program and that provided Mr. Bayol’s down payment assistance or mortgage financing are the Palm Beach County First-Time Homebuyer Program, Harris Bank, and LISC.
Neighborhood Renaissance’s Community Land Trust provides a valuable solution to the lack of available workforce housing in West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County as a whole. This program strives to ensure that homeownership can be within reach of many more low-income and working families in the community. The CLT accomplishes this by reducing the cost of the actual housing by removing the price of land from the purchase price of the home. The Community Land Trust has the additional added benefit of expanding the reach of all programs for first-time homebuyers due to the lower amount of down payment assistance needed for the purchase therefore increasing the overall number of families that have the opportunity to own a home. This program of Neighborhood Renaissance additionally provides long-term benefits to the community as a whole by preserving the affordable housing stock and the funds used to actually build the homes for future generations through the trust.
Mr. Bayol is a Kindergarten teacher at Orchard View Community Elementary and he has been with the School District for four years. As an immigrant to this country, he has worked very hard to be able to achieve the ultimate of American Dreams, homeownership. After watching a local news story about the Neighborhood Renaissance Community Land Trust, Jean attended one of the agency’s CLT orientations. He was drawn to the organization and the Community Land Trust program because of the difficulty he had had attempting to find a quality home within his means.
Neighborhood Renaissance is in the process of completing additional homes through the Community Land Trust for purchase by first-time homebuyers just like Mr. Bayol. The next Orientation Meeting for the CLT will be held June 20th and July 18th from 6 pm to 8 pm at one of the actual CLT homes located at 714 52nd Street, West Palm Beach, FL 33407. For additional information about the Community Land Trust and to reserve your spot at an Orientation Meeting please call Christina Hewitt, Community Land Trust Manager, at (561) 832-6776, extension 107.
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Neighborhood Renaissance Closes On 1st Community Land Trust Home Purchase
West Palm Beach, Florida- Neighborhood Renaissance client Jeanetta Watts on Thursday, April 12, 2007 purchased the first Community Land Trust (CLT) home in the City of West Palm Beach. The agency partnered with various public and private entities in the community to make Jeanetta’s dream of homeownership become reality. Included amongst the entities participating in Neighborhood Renaissance’s CLT program and provided Ms. Watts’ down payment assistance or mortgage financing are the Palm Beach County First-Time Homebuyer Program, the Federal Home Loan Bank’s Affordable Housing Program, National City Bank formerly Fidelity Federal Bank and Trust, and LISC.
Neighborhood Renaissance’s Community Land Trust provides a valuable solution to the lack of workforce housing in Palm Beach County. This program strives to ensure that homeownership can be within reach of many more low-income and working families in the community. The CLT accomplishes this by reducing the cost of the actual housing by removing the price of land from the purchase price of the home. The Community Land Trust has the additional added benefit of expanding the reach of all programs for first-time homebuyers due to the lower amount of down payment assistance needed for the purchase and therefore increasing the overall number of individuals that have the opportunity to achieve homeownership. This program of Neighborhood Renaissance additionally provides long-term benefits to the community as a whole by preserving the affordable housing stock and the funds used to actually build the homes for future generations through the trust.
Ms. Watts is a nurse at the Armor Correctional Health Services, LLC and a single-parent to a son and daughter. She is very active in her church and volunteers to teach CPR to young people in the community. Jeanetta was referred to Neighborhood Renaissance by her younger sister Benita because she knew that homeownership was a goal of her sister. Like every mother, she wanted to provide her children a safe, quality home to grow up in and now she has achieved her goal.
Neighborhood Renaissance is in the process of completing additional homes through the Community Land Trust for purchase by first-time homebuyers. The next Orientation Meetings for the CLT will be held Wednesday, April 18th and May 16th from 6 pm to 8 pm at the offices of Neighborhood Renaissance at 510 24th Street Suite A, West Palm Beach, FL 33407. For additional information about the Community Land Trust and to reserve your spot at an Orientation Meeting please call Christina Hewitt, Community Land Trust Manager, at (561) 832-6776, extension 107.
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NEIGHBORHOOD RENAISSANCE RECEIVES $200,000 GRANT AND BANK OF AMERICA'S 2006 NEIGHBORHOOD BUILDERS AWARD
West Palm Beach, FL - December 6, 2006. Neighborhood Renaissance, Inc. is a nonprofit economic development organization dedicated to creating strong neighborhoods and homes within reach of low- and moderate-income working families. For its work in affordable housing, the community-based group received Bank of America's 2006 Neighborhood Builders Award at a luncheon ceremony held in their honor on December 1st at the Kravis Center.
In 2004, Bank of America Charitable Investments launched a two-year $15 million Neighborhood Excellence Initiative to recognize, nurture, and reward organizations involved in helping to rebuild and revitalize their neighborhoods. Neighborhood Builders provides $200,000 in grant funding and leadership training over the course of two years to neighborhood nonprofit organizations working to promote vibrant communities. The combination of operating support and leadership training helps strengthen the capacity of the selected organization and promotes the professional development of their leaders.
Neighborhood Renaissance recently expanded its housing development efforts to include the greater West Palm Beach area in response to the region's lack of affordable housing. Their approach to neighborhood revitalization is comprehensive and based upon sound urban planning principals. They work with community stake holders to solve neighborhood planning issues, renovate troubled properties, create workforce housing opportunities, encourage business development and bring about positive neighborhood changes. Neighborhood Renaissance will use their grant to build capacity to undertake larger scale affordable housing development and subsequently reinvest retained revenue back into the community in the form of needed affordable housing.
The Neighborhood Renaissance commercial & retail hub planned for Village Centre was recently awarded the Federal Home Loan (FHL) Bank of Atlanta's prestigious EDGE Award for 2006. FHL Bank awarded loans of more than $9.7 million for 10 economic development projects in the southeast region. Village Centre was awarded $2.3 million at 3.5% for 60 months for the development of a ground floor 14,000 square feet retail center. The EDGE award will allow Village Centre to offer below market commercial rents as low as $13 per square foot. If you are interested in commercial leasing opportunities contact Scott Kline at 832-6776 extension 104 or shkline@northwoodrenaissance.org .
Project Background: Village Centre is designed as a 5 story mixed-use residential and commercial redevelopment project to be built in the heart of the Northwood Business District and will assist in the redevelopment of more than an acre of blight. The development will bring to the community 60 spacious 2BR/2BA condominiums with price points affordable to the area's workforce. The South Florida Local Initiatives Support Corporation, a national nonprofit community development lending intermediary has provided $3 million in predevelopment financing and the Florida Community Loan Fund, a state-wide Community Development Finance Institution made a $300,000 acquisition loan. In addition, Palm Beach County awarded $1.2 million in housing subsidies to produce a set-aside of affordable homes. As a condition of the County's grant commitment, matching funds are needed from the City of West Palm Beach to move the project forward. The total cost of construction is estimated at $19 million.