Bridgeport Affordable Housing Project Awarded State Grant

BRIDGEPORT, CT — An affordable housing project in the city has been awarded funding from the state in order to boost the stock of affordable housing, Gov. Dannel Malloy's office announced Monday. The Windward Apartments project was one of seven affordable housing projects in six Connecticut cities to receive funding. The funds come through federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits programs administered by the CHFA.

“Leveraging federal tax credits with other public and private funding will not only provide much-needed affordable housing for Connecticut residents, the construction and other work involved in bringing these new units online will generate jobs and economic activity in the state,” Said Gov. Dannel Malloy in a statement.

With 60 affordable units, the Windward Apartments are the redevelopment of the Marina Village public housing complex. The revamped facility will have 48 units of housing for households with incomes up to 60 percent of Area Median Income (AMI), including 15 project-based Section 8 rental subsidies, 12 supportive units and 12 market rate units.

The seven developments create a total of 578 rental units. Of those, 401 are designated as affordable and 177 as market rate. The announcement says the properties are projected to generate 964 jobs, $333.5 million in economic activity, and $18.92 million in net state revenue.

The announcement said that developers can obtain equity financing to acquire, rehabilitate, and construct new low or moderate-income housing by selling tax credits to investors. Applications are reviewed and scored based on the state's Qualified Allocation Plan.

“With a limited number of credits available, the LIHTC application process is competitive,” Connecticut Department of Housing (DOH) Commissioner Evonne M. Klein said in a prepared statement. “We are pleased that the majority of the units – 475 of them – are new, increasing the inventory of affordable housing, and 103 units are replacement for units taken out of service. It’s also important to note that these are units for families, with 65 percent of the units having two or more bedrooms. Additionally, six of the seven developments will include supportive services for residents identified as homeless, chronically homeless, imminently homeless, or at-risk of homelessness. Supportive services bring stability to peoples’ lives and save money by reducing visits to hospital emergency rooms and other more costly services.”

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