real estate
Refuge from dire trend
Five developments in the Miami Valley will offer low-income housing
Sunday, July 13, 2008
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Executive Vice President David Bohardt of St. Mary Development stands in front of the start of a low-income housing development off of Gettysburg Avenue in Dayton. St. Mary Development has five low-income housing developments in the Miami Valley totaling $30 million. 
Construction workers build a low-income housing development project by St. Mary Development off of Gettysburg Avenue in Dayton. DAYTON — Standing in Stoney Ridge II — a neighborhood under construction off Gettysburg Avenue — David Bohardt reels off some enviable numbers.
Bohardt, executive vice president of St. Mary Development, a provider of low-income housing, says the four homes already under construction in Stoney Ridge will be leased by October and the other 21 occupied by early next year.
Stoney Ridge is one of five renovation or construction projects, totaling $31 million, that St. Mary has undertaken this summer. The projects, all funded with tax credits and built using private contractors, include three projects in Dayton and one each in Eaton and Washington Courthouse.
Bohardt said a mixture of economic and demographic factors are driving demand for affordable housing for senior citizens and working families.
With senior citizens, the segment of baby boomers who retire with only incomes from Social Security or pensions, will need affordable apartments as their incomes fall when they stop working, Bohardt said.
And, according to a study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said the steep drops in real estate values will leave a majority of baby boomers nearing retirement with "little or no wealth."
If housing prices stay the same through next year, the median household headed by 45-to-54-year-olds will have 24.7 percent less wealth in 2009 than the same age group had in 2004, according to the study released in June. If real estate values continue to fall a 10 percent drop would bring a 34.6 percent loss of wealth, and a 20 percent drop would reduce wealth by 45.6 percent.
Bohardt also said the foreclosure crisis is fueling a greater need for affordable housing for families. In addition to people losing their own homes, renters in some cases have found themselves on the street when their landlords lose the rental property to foreclosure, while a tightening of the credit market has kept others out of the housing market, he said.
Tax-credit financed projects can be attractive for builders, even when the overall construction market slows, Bohardt said. While the profit margins are slimmer, he said, the projects bring less risk with them because the builder doesn't own the properties and therefore won't end up holding unsold houses, he said.
Walt Hibner, executive director of the Home Builders Association of Dayton and the Miami Valley, said a handful of builders in the area, including Miller-Valentine Group and Oberer Development, participate in the tax-credit projects, the funding of which often is complex.
Though the overall pace of residential building has declined during the last couple of years, the pace of apartment construction has stayed steady compared to a year ago, while condominium projects have grown, industry watchers say.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7317 or
ttresslar@DaytonDailyNews.com.
Projects under way
Twin Towers Place:
$3 million renovation to conclude in 2009.
Stoney Ridge II: $6 million development of 25 homes.
Lyons Place I: $9.9 million, 67-unit apartment project.
Eaton Senior Villas: $6.7 million for low-income seniors.
Trotter's Point in Washington Court House: $5.1 million for 29 lease-to-purchase single-family homes.
