Portsmouth voters approved plans for senior housing in 2021. Where the project stands.

Portsmouth voters decided in a November 2021 referendum to approve an agreement with Church Community Housing Corporation for a lease to build a new senior center and affordable senior housing at the Anne Hutchinson School property located at 110 Bristol Ferry Road.

Two years later, Church Community Housing is on the verge of being able to get that project moving. The development’s financing hinges on the highly competitive application process for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) awarded annually to developers by RI Housing.

Christian Belden, the executive director of Church Community Housing Corporation, told The Daily News it is difficult for developers to finance affordable housing initiatives without being awarded the tax credit. He expects to hear about the funding decision for the senior center project after the RIHousing meeting scheduled for May 18, and he is optimistic about the application.

The former Anne Hutchinson School currently serves as the Portsmouth Multi-Purpose Senior Center, but it has been functioning with limited capacity because of the poor condition of the building, including some elements of the property which are in violation of the state’s fire code.

Senior housing development received preliminary plan approval from Portsmouth

Church Community Housing Corporation needed to advance through Portsmouth’s municipal permitting process in order to apply for the LIHTC, and is waiting on a DEM review of the stormwater and septic designs in order to receive final plan approval from the town. The master plan for the proposed housing has not changed since it received preliminary plan approval from the planning board on Nov. 9, 2022.

There is also a possibility that four to six market-rate condominiums could be built in the historic footprint of the Anne Hutchinson School building, provided the sale proceeds from those market-rate units could pay the cost of renovating the historic schoolhouse and converting it to housing.

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On the first floor of the new building would be the new senior center, which would include the amenities present in the current senior center including a library, thrift shop, kitchen, dining room, multipurpose space and staff offices.

The building would also have a total of 54 apartments, mostly on the second and third floors. The majority of the apartments would be one-bedroom units, but 25% of them would have two bedrooms. All of the apartments would be for people aged 55 and older, and Belden said “the vast majority” of the units would be priced for seniors making 60% of Area Median Income (AMI).

Church Community Housing Corporation submitted applications for both a 4% and a 9% LIHTC award from RI Housing

Belden said receiving preliminary plan approval from the town is a threshold requirement to apply for the RI Housing funding, which Church Community Housing applied for this past January and will hear a decision about in May.

“There are two different kinds of tax credits: there are 9% tax credits, and if you get awarded one of those it covers about 70% of the total cost of development…there are usually only two or three of those awarded per year,” explained Belden.

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“And then there are 4% tax credits, which only cover about 30% of the total development cost,” he continued. “We submitted applications with both scenarios.”

He said historically there has not been enough grant funding available in Rhode Island for developers to effectively utilize the 4% option, but the ARPA funding the state received for affordable housing has set up what he called “the only time in (his) lifetime” the state has enough matching funds available to make a 4% LIHTC new construction deal viable.

Portsmouth senior center and housing will not get built without LIHTC award

Belden was straightforward when asked if this project, like many affordable housing proposals, was heavily dependent upon winning the competitive tax credit.

“We’re talking about like a $20 million project. Just because it’s been approved by the planning board and the referendum, that just means, ‘If you can get the money, you can do it,’” he said. “Then you have to get the money.”

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Although it has already been over a year since the referendum, Belden pointed out the timing of the November 2022 vote and the January 2023 deadline for the annual application worked out well for Portsmouth – if the town approval had not been given until February 2023, for example, Church Community Housing would have waited nearly a year just to apply for the funding.

“If we can’t get the funding to do it, then we can’t build it and we would just not execute the lease…but I am optimistic that we are going to get our funding approved,” said Belden.

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Portsmouth affordable senior housing awaits RIHousing funding decision