photo by: Nick Krug

In this file photo from July 2017, two Lawrence Habitat for Humanity homes undergo construction in the 1900 block of East 17th Street. The city's affordable housing advisory board contributed funds to construct the homes.

Applications are now open for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund for 2024, the City of Lawrence announced Wednesday, and there could be much more money than usual on the table this time around.

The affordable housing trust is funded by a special affordable housing sales tax approved by voters in 2017 and is intended to support projects providing and improving the quality, availability and affordability of housing in Lawrence, as well as land acquisitions for future affordable housing units and investments in private-public partnerships for the provision of affordable housing. Applications will remain open until 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15.

The projects funded for next year could tap into a larger funding pool than normal. As the Journal-World reported in April, the Affordable Housing Advisory Board voted 8-3 to recommend that the city make the trust’s entire fund reserve of close to $3 million available for projects next year.

That could mean potentially more than double the amount of grants approved by city leaders for this year’s round of projects. In December, the Lawrence City Commission approved $1.26 million in grants from the trust fund for seven projects, including $350,000 to the Douglas County Housing Stabilization Collaborative for rental and utility assistance and $400,000 to Wheatland Investments Group for an affordable multifamily housing development called The Estates of Lawrence.

Applications will be accepted for a number of projects serving residents living at or below 80% of the area median income; according to U.S. Census Data, the median household income in Lawrence from 2017 to 2021 was $56,536, meaning 80% of that figure would be about $45,228.

Eligible projects are as follows:

• Affordable housing or land acquisition

• New affordable housing development

• Rehabilitation of affordable housing for preservation of existing affordable housing stock

• Accessibility modifications for low- to moderate-income households with accessibility needs to remain in affordable and accessible housing

• Housing vouchers for low-income households

• Projects that increase community awareness on affordable housing

• Projects that advance racial equity in housing

All projects must be within the City of Lawrence and serve households residing within city limits. Corporations and LLCs, 501(c)3 nonprofits, neighborhood and civic groups, and City of Lawrence and Douglas County departments are all eligible to apply. Individuals applying for their own owner-occupied units, however, are not.

Applications must be submitted electronically to Affordable Housing Administrator Lea Roselyn at lroselyn@lawrenceks.org, and another copy of the signed application must be mailed to Roselyn’s office at the City of Lawrence postmarked no later than the day of the application deadline.

Applicants are encouraged to schedule a pre-application meeting with Roselyn to discuss their projects and review their applications, especially if they are new applicants to the trust fund. Those meetings can be scheduled by emailing Roselyn.

Applicants will be asked to prepare a brief presentation to share with the Affordable Housing Advisory Board at its Monday, Oct. 9 meeting, after which the board will forward recommendations for funding to the Lawrence City Commission for approval. Those recommendations will be based on available resources, the ability of the project to meet the Affordable Housing Trust Fund’s stated goals, the evaluation criteria, past performance by the agency in adhering to funding guidelines, and the ability to measure progress toward the project’s objectives.

More information about the application process, including application materials and more contact information, is available on the city’s website.