Crestview seeks developer for affordable housing project to help improve high-crime area
CRESTVIEW — By mid-2023, people might be living in new rented homes in what in recent years has been a high-crime neighborhood just south of City Hall.
Through 2 p.m. May 4, Crestview officials are accepting developers’ proposals for affordable housing development concepts, with a goal of improving the neighborhood’s standard of living.
Last spring, the city paid a little more than $106,000 to buy eight residential lots in the neighborhood: Four of the parcels were vacant lots on North Savage Street and four contained six unsafe and run-down rental houses on West Bowers and West Field avenues.
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City officials worked with the Homelessness & Housing Alliance to relocate the tenants of the old houses, which were later razed.
Crestview now is looking to form a public-private partnership with a developer to provide the new affordable rental houses on the vacant and cleared-out lots. The parcels will continue to be city-owned, City Manager Tim Bolduc said Tuesday.
“We want to keep the properties safe and affordable while also serving the underserved portions of our community,” including people who have a felony in their background but have “paid their debt to society,” Bolduc said. “We’re looking for a partner who is flexible in that area.”
A selection committee will review and rank all submitted proposals before recommending its top choice to the City Council. The council could make the final decision in June or July on who the developer should be for the housing project, Bolduc said.
The number of houses that will be built, the project cost and timeline, rental rate ranges and other items will be provided in the proposals. The work to be performed by the chosen developer may include, but is not limited to, design, construction, management and operations of an affordable housing development.
“Our desire is to house people there by the middle of next year,” Bolduc said.
He said the rental rate ranges will have to meet the requirements of very low to moderate income categories set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Bolduc does not anticipate any city funding will be used for the project going forward.
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Affordable housing: Crestview seeks developer for project near City Hall
