Forty-one percent.
Of the $93M worth of housing construction done by Elm City Communities/Housing Authority of the City of New Haven over the past decade, 41% of the construction dollars went to small, minority, women-owned and Section 3 designated local companies. That is over $37m dollars circulating through over 70 local contractors.
Part of ECC/HANH’s efforts in creating communities has been our work to redevelop our portfolio. Turning 80 year old properties into newly designed, vibrant, energy -efficient communities of choice is a major element of the work that we do. Over the past decade we have rebuilt over 2,000 units of quality affordable and mixed income housing in the City of New Haven. The creation of these units has changed the lives of thousands of people who are so deserving of this investment.
What can sometimes be missed are the related benefits of such a massive redevelopment effort. The economic benefit for the city cannot be overlooked. Analyzing the most recent major redevelopments that we have undertaken – Fair Haven, Farnam Courts/Mill River Crossing, Wilmot Crossing and Ribicoff Cottages/Twin Brook Estates a few things are of note.
These developments have generated almost $100 million dollars of investment at a 3:1 leverage ratio of private dollars to public dollars.
It is well known in affordable housing research, that for every 100 units of affordable housing created, 120 jobs are created. Further, long after the development phase, the creation of each affordable housing development supports continual employment for at least 30 on-going new related jobs. (http://plannersweb.com/2011/08/the-economic-fiscal-benefits-of-affordable-housing/). This has been borne out in the effects of ECC/HANH’s redevelopment efforts.
Each of our development projects is accompanied by our commitment to ensure the businesses that historically have been locked out of competition for the construction related contracts get their fair share of the work. This means focused attention on ensuring that minority-owned (MBE), women-owned (WBE) and Section 3 businesses (businesses owned by or that primarily employ low income residents of the area) are prioritized for contract opportunities. Based upon disparity studies, goals for our projects were established that targeted 30% for Section 3 businesses, 20% for MBEs and 6.9% for WBEs.
All too often when asking people or organizations to create more opportunity or make real steps toward diversity, equity and inclusion the response is “we tried but…”, “we can’t find people” or “the smaller contractors are unable to meet the requirements”. The results of our efforts are one demonstration that when effort aligns with strategy, diversity, equity and inclusion will be achieved.
Our redevelopment projects have met and exceeded the goals that we set forth. For some projects (e.g. Ribicoff Cottages/Twin Brook and Wilmont Crossing) more than half of the dollars spent went to MBE, WBE and Section 3 businesses. In sum, of the $93 million dollars invested across all projects, 40.38% or $37.7 m went to over 70 MBE, WBE and Section 3 businesses. To break this down, 30% of the dollars ($28.6M) went to MBEs, 14% ($13.4M) went to WBEs and 31% ($28.8M) went to Section 3 businesses.
Our city is made that much better by the fact that dollars that circulate through small, local businesses stay in the local community longer. Creating opportunity to those who’ve been left out is possible. It takes intention, will and strategy. It takes a willingness to think equitably and know that we all benefit when we create conditions of inclusiveness.
I am proud of the 2,000 beautiful units of affordable housing that we have built. I am proud of the families that call them home and use them as a platform from which they can strive to reach their goals. I am proud of the 74 local MBE, WBE and Section 3 businesses that participated in this process.
I am proud of the 41%.
Karen DuBois-Walton, Ph.D. is the President of ECC/HANH’s instrumentality, The Glendower Group, Inc., which is a non-profit affordable housing developer of mixed income communities. The Glendower Group has developed over 2,000 units of tax-credit, federally and state subsidized housing and market rate housing in the City of New Haven.
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