photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Lawrence's Affordable Housing Advisory Board meets on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025, at City Hall.

After the Affordable Housing Advisory Board had discussed requests for six- and even seven-figure sums out of the city’s affordable housing trust on Thursday, one of the last items it had to consider was a request for $80,000.

“It’s a pretty cheap ticket,” board member Mark Buhler said — then corrected himself: “I can’t believe I said that, $80,000 is a cheap ticket!”

With just over $1.2 million in funding from the affordable housing trust available, and requests for $1 million, $900,000 or $800,000 from some applicants, there were few cheap tickets to be had at AHAB’s meeting. That $80,000 request that Buhler was talking about — for a fee waiver for the 9 Del Lofts II project — didn’t get a recommendation from the board, but nine other projects out of the 13 that applied did, ranging from tiny homes to vouchers to a tenant education program.

The city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund is supported by a local sales tax measure that voters approved in 2017, and the requests for funding for 2026 totaled just over $4 million.

By far the biggest amount of funding that the board recommended was for the Floret Hill development near the southeast corner of Bob Billings Parkway and K-10. The developers requested $800,000 from the trust this year, and the board recommended that they be granted $500,000.

The plans for Floret Hill call for 121 units of affordable housing, including a mix of multistory apartment buildings, townhome-style buildings and duplexes. Board chair Christina Gentry said this project fit the objectives of the city’s A Place for Everyone plan on housing and homelessness, and was in a space that is “not the usual ZIP code” for affordable housing projects.

“This is the check-every box application,” said board member Mariel Ferreiro. She said approving it would send a message to developers about the types of projects the board wanted to see more of.

The board recommended that some of the applicants get the full amount that they requested. These included $75,000 for a program from Independence Inc. that helps homeowners make accessibility improvements; $25,000 for a repair and accessibility upgrades program from the Senior Resource Center for Douglas County; $75,000 for the New Horizon voucher program from the Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority, which helps people transitioning out of homelessness; and $180,000 for LDCHA and Peaslee Tech to build two tiny homes in East Lawrence.

Of the tiny homes, Gentry said what was appealing was that LDCHA already had the land, “deed in hand” and was ready to develop: “It’s just right there and ready.”

A few other projects were not recommended for any funding at all. They were a senior apartment project at 711 New Hampshire St. by Cohen-Esrey Development Group, which had requested $1 million; the $80,000 request from Tony Krsnich’s Flint Hills Holding Group for the 9 Del Lofts II fee waiver; $900,000 for another Flint Hills project at the former East Heights school site; and $38,000 for a public awareness campaign by the Homeless Resource Center.

The 9 Del Lofts II project, which had been awarded money from the trust before, created some confusion on the board this time around. Flint Hills was seeking the fee waiver to make it easier for the development to get low-income housing tax credits. But board members noted that the last time the project had applied, it was proposing to build 29 affordable units, but it was now only proposing 26.

Buhler was in favor of some funding for the waiver. He said that developers can sometimes change their plans “for all the right reasons,” such as when they encounter a problem with a project. But others on the board were concerned that if the fee waiver were approved, the lower number of units would be locked in, and Buhler said if the others decided to recommend zero, “I will not pout.”

“I’d rather not us be in a sticky situation,” Ferreiro said of the 9 Del Lofts II confusion. She said they should “let the (City) Commission work that out” when the recommendations go before that body for a final vote.

Board members also had concerns about a lack of details in the East Heights application; about whether the awareness campaign could be done at a lower cost; and about design and parking issues with the senior apartments. They noted that the apartments would be built on a site that’s currently a public parking lot, and that the plans only included one elevator, which could be a safety issue with the building’s older residents.

“I do think parking matters,” Buhler said. “Public parking matters.”

And Gentry said, “I think this is not accessible at all.” With just “one way in which to enter and exit” via the elevator, she said, “It just doesn’t speak to me as not being life-threatening” in an emergency.

Even though not every request was recommended for funding — or for as much funding as the applicants wanted — the commissioners said they hoped many of the projects would come back or find other sources of funding that could help them go ahead.

“This is a very attractive development,” Ferreiro said of the senior apartments. “I would hope that we could see this application again with addressing some of the concerns we’ve had.”

And on East Heights, Buhler said, “I think it will survive for a better day, and I think we’ll be there for it.”

Next up, the recommendations will go to the Lawrence City Commission on Dec. 2 for a final decision. Below is the list of projects the board recommended for funding and how much the applicants requested:

• Floret Hill: $500,000; $800,000 requested

• LDCHA tiny homes: $180,000; $180,000 requested

• Housing Stabilization Collaborative rent and utility assistance: $150,000; $350,000 requested

• Habitat for Humanity home repair program: $100,000; $250,000 requested

• Independence Inc. Accessible Housing Program: $75,000; $75,000 requested

• LDCHA New Horizon voucher program: $75,000; $75,000 requested

• Lawrence Tenants An Educator for Everyone program: $75,000; $170,000 requested

• Senior Resource Center repair and accessibility program: $25,000; $25,000 requested

• Poehler Lofts maintenance: $20,000; $83,875 requested