photo by: Contributed Image

This rendering shows an apartment development proposed for Locust Street in North Lawrence.

New apartment buildings in North Lawrence, row houses near Holcom Park and a redevelopment of an old school building are a few of the projects that have applied for money from the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund for 2027.

The application period closed earlier this month, and at the Affordable Housing Advisory Board’s meeting in October, the applicants will be able to make their pitches.

Each fall, AHAB considers the applications for the trust fund money and makes a recommendation on which projects to fund and how much each should receive. They forward it to the City Commission, which then makes the final funding decisions.

This year, the applicants will be competing for a smaller pool of funds than usual – at least for now – because of the city’s new affordable housing incentive policy.

Historically, the Affordable Housing Trust Fund money has been allocated on a once-a-year grant cycle, and for 2026 the trust had $1.2 million available to distribute. But in 2027, the new incentive policy will create a rolling application process in addition to the yearly cycle. The rolling process will go on throughout the year and will just be for new development and comprehensive housing rehabilitation projects.

To transition over to that system, AHAB decided that it would split its roughly $1.2 million for 2027 into two pools. Affordable Housing Administrator Lea Roselyn said roughly $700,000 in funding would be allocated through the normal yearly award process. The remaining $500,000 will be used for rolling applications that come in throughout the 2027 calendar year.

Here’s more information about the projects and how much money they’re seeking. Also included, for new housing developments, is what percentage of the total cost of the project the applicant estimates the request would cover.

Ninth Street Missionary Baptist Church: Hope Project 2

Amount requested: $305,000, 25% of the expected cost.

This would be a new six-unit rental property at 913 Tennessee St. that would serve tenants making 30% of area median income. It would replace a four-plex that’s currently at the site and add two ADA-accessible units that weren’t there before. The application says the current building is “very dated and not accessible,” and that restoring the four-plex would cost almost as much as demolishing it and building the new six-plex.

This development is targeted specifically at families with children that have lost their previous housing, the application says.

SENT Inc. and Tenants to Homeowners: Holcom Homes

Amount requested: $350,000, 2.5% of the expected cost.

These would be 24 new homes at 2500 W. 25th St. that would be sold to low-income homebuyers. Twelve of them would be detached single-family homes, and the other 12 would be row houses. The site will also have 10 duplexes of housing for seniors and a community building, but those parts of the development would not use Affordable Housing Trust Fund money; they would be funded through Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.

Cohen-Esrey Development Group: 711 New Hampshire

Amount requested: $500,000, 1.65% of the expected cost.

This would be a 94-unit apartment complex for seniors at 711 New Hampshire St. in downtown Lawrence, atop what is now a city parking lot. This was one of the proposals the city received when it asked for suggestions for redeveloping downtown parking lots several years ago. However, the city has not yet sold the lot to Cohen-Esrey; in June, the City Commission deferred its decision on that, and it’s now expected to come back to the commission on Oct. 20.

Jon Davis and Paul Werner: Locust Street Apartments

Amount requested: $462,000, 2.1% of the expected cost.

This proposal is for multiple apartment and mixed-use buildings on Locust Street in North Lawrence. The application lists two buildings in the 500 block of Locust: a dedicated apartment building with 24 units and a building with 26 apartment units and small commercial spaces on the ground floor. It also lists a mixed-use building at Seventh and Locust streets with 19 housing units and some commercial space.

Not all of the apartments would be affordable housing; 70% of them would be market rate. Twenty-one of the units would qualify as affordable.

Site plans and other documentation attached to the application also show a “railyard restaurant” concept nearby, which would have an outdoor patio with train cars seemingly built into it.

Flint Hills Holdings: East Heights

Amount requested: $360,000, 2.55% of the expected cost.

This project would redevelop the former East Heights School site into a low-income rental complex, and developer Tony Krsnich’s group has been pursuing it for a while. In its first phase, it would redevelop the school building into 16 affordable apartments and build 12 affordable duplex units nearby, for a total of 28 new affordable housing units. The site could also accommodate 12 more housing units in a future phase, according to a site plan included with the application. A community room and an on-site daycare facility are also planned, the application says.

Flint Hills Holdings sought funding for this project from the trust fund last year, but didn’t receive it. The plans appear to have changed since then, because last year’s application said the development would have 30 affordable units and 10 market-rate units.

Flint Hills Holdings: New Hampshire Lofts II

Amount requested: $400,000, 2.71% of the expected cost.

Another apartment project from Krsnich’s group, this one would create 24 affordable apartments and eight market-rate apartments at 1041 New Hampshire St., the site where the Allen Press building formerly stood, across the street from the recently opened New Hampshire Lofts. Like that apartment building, the application materials show that this development would include live/work spaces on the ground floor.

Lawrence Habitat for Humanity: Critical Home Repair program

Amount requested: $205,000

Habitat’s program helps homeowners complete necessary repairs to roofs, plumbing, HVAC and more. The nonprofit says in its application that 71 families are currently on the wait list for funding, and it hopes to help 13 of them with repairs in the coming year.

Friends of the Senior Resource Center: Repairs for low-income seniors

Amount requested: $25,000

This program provides funding for specialized repair jobs to help seniors stay in their homes safely. The application says the Senior Resource Center refers some seniors’ repair requests to Tenants to Homeowners or Habitat for Humanity, but that certain jobs require more specialized skills or multiple subcontractors. The requested funding for 2027 would let the SRC fund six to 10 of those projects.

Independence Inc.: Accessible Housing Program

Amount requested: $75,000

Independence Inc.’s program makes accessibility modifications for seniors and people with disabilities to help them remain in their homes. These include ramps, accessible showers and wider doorways for walker and wheelchair access, among other things. Independence Inc. expects the requested funding could serve at least 10 homeowners.

Douglas County: Housing Stabilization Collaborative

Amount requested: $350,000

This program, which began during COVID, provides emergency rent and utility assistance to low-income households to prevent shutoffs and evictions. It’s consistently had more requests for assistance than it’s been able to fulfill, and as the Journal-World reported, it recently changed its process for deciding who gets its limited funding. Previously, it used a lottery model, but this year it switched to a need-based system that prioritizes people at particular risk of homelessness, such as older adults, people on fixed incomes and single-parent households.

With the funding it’s requested, the Housing Stabilization Collaborative estimates it could serve 168 households in 2027.

Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority: New Horizons

Amount requested: $75,000

This rental assistance program helps households experiencing homelessness transition into permanent housing. Participants are referred by the Lawrence Community Shelter, the Willow Domestic Violence Center and Family Promise of Lawrence, and they then receive up to 24 months of rental assistance and case management, followed by a permanent housing choice voucher if they meet the program’s requirements.

With its requested funding and $75,000 that Douglas County has committed, LDCHA expects it could serve six to seven households, or around eight to nine adults and 12 to 13 children.

Lawrence Tenants: An Educator for Everyone

Amount requested: $148,000

This is a tenants’ rights education program that uses door-to-door outreach, workshops and other programming. Among other things, it teaches renters about their rights with regard to evictions, security deposits and other topics and identifies tenants with potential issues, such as unlawful evictions or repair problems.

With the requested funding, Lawrence Tenants expects to engage more than 3,000 renters in 2027 and train 25 new volunteers.

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One other project was listed on the meeting agenda when it was originally posted: a development of 14 units for low-income homebuyers on the east side of Comfort Court in North Lawrence, proposed by Lawrence Habitat for Humanity. Most of these would be detached single-family homes, and the density rules in the city’s new Land Development Code would allow for two housing units on each of the project’s lots. This project had requested $198,000, or 6% of the expected cost. However, it was removed from the agenda later in the week. The Journal-World has reached out to city staff with questions about whether it will still be considered.

The Affordable Housing Advisory Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8, at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.