Feature Story

June 4, 2007

Grants Will Help Save Local Apartments

Enterprise Community Partners and the Housing Assistance Council:

Seven rural community-based organizations will be better able to help local renters, thanks to grants announced today and made possible by a partnership between Enterprise Community Partners and the Housing Assistance Council.

The grantees, including two Missouri groups, are all preserving affordable rental homes that are in danger of being demolished or converted to units for higher-income tenants.

"Very few new apartments are being built in rural places for seniors living on fixed incomes or families with low-wage jobs," explained Housing Assistance Council Executive Director Moises Loza.

"So it's essential to keep the affordable rentals we already have, and many local nonprofit groups around the country are doing an excellent job of that.

The HAC/Enterprise Rural Capacity Building Initiative is a multi-year project that combines HAC's depth, outreach, and expertise in rural communities with Enterprise's resources and services.

This year, rental preservation grant recipients include the Delta Area Economic Opportunity Corporation, based in Portageville, and Northeast Community Action Corporation, headquartered in Bowling Green.

When completed in 2009, the complex will offer at least 50 fully updated, affordable homes for low-income families.

We look forward to continued success with partners in Missouri as we work to leverage public investment with private resources to ensure that all low-income families have access to fit and affordable housing in communities of their choosing."

Enterprise is a leading provider of the development capital and expertise it takes to create decent, affordable homes and rebuild communities.

For more than two decades, Enterprise has pioneered neighborhood solutions through public-private partnerships with financial institutions, governments, community organizations and others that share our vision.