State approves Low-Income Housing Tax Credits for the project; groundbreaking in Oak Park to take place by Spring 2019

South Oakland Shelter (SOS) today announced a major step forward in its plans to build Coolidge Place, a high-quality, affordable housing development in Oak Park, MI.

The Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) has reserved $1,361,400 in Low-Income Housing Tax Credits over 10 years for the Coolidge Place development, anticipated to provide roughly $12.5 million in equity toward the total $14 million project. Coolidge Place is among 14 Michigan developments recently awarded Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.

“This is an important point in time for our city,” said Oak Park City Manager Erik Tungate. “This project will help spark new development in the immediate area and will transition an otherwise obsolete stretch of property into a vibrant corridor.”

There is a critical need for affordable housing in Oakland County. A recently released report by the Urban Institute indicates there are fewer than 50 affordable and available units in the county for every 100 very low-income renter households (with incomes up to 50% of the area’s median income). For every 100 extremely low-income renter households (with incomes of 30% or below the area’s median), there are only 24 affordable and available units in Oakland County.

“Unfortunately, for all of our wealth, our county is among the worst in the state when it comes to providing available and affordable rental units. We must do far better for our community,” said Ryan Hertz, President and CEO of South Oakland Shelter. “Coolidge Place will help us begin to chip away at this barrier to economic stability for working families by building dozens of beautiful and affordable apartments for our neighbors.”

Coolidge Place is a 64-unit residential development that will be built on a vacant 4.5-acre site west of Coolidge Highway north of Eight Mile Road in Oak Park. The project will provide affordable town home and ranch-style apartments and will also include green space and a community center. All of the apartments will be dedicated to lower-income working families with a quarter of the units set aside for those with special needs.

“Nearly 20,000 people experienced homelessness in metro Detroit during the past year alone,” Hertz said. “We are moving upstream by providing solutions to address the broader systemic problem of housing affordability. This is our first development effort.”

SOS is developing Coolidge Place through its wholly owned subsidiary, Spero Housing Group, in partnership with Southwest Housing Solutions in Detroit. Fusco, Shaffer & Pappas Inc. is the architect on the project; O’Brien Construction Co. will serve as general contractor with KMG Prestige Inc. as property manager. Ethos Development Partners is the development consultant. Rents will range from $389 – $824 per month for one to three bedroom units. Groundbreaking is expected to take place by spring 2019.