Feb 07 2023 32 mins
The newest episode of the Affordable Housing Podcast is now available. In this episode, Membership and Operations Senior Associate Allison Ward speaks with Christopher Donald, Executive Director & CEO of DCHFA along with Blaise Rastello, Development Director of Affordable Housing at the Gilbane Development Company and Claudia Schlosberg, Principal at Castle Hill Consulting & former Senior Deputy Director and Medicaid Director at the Department of Healthcare Finance to talk about their recent NALHFA Award of Multifamily Excellence for their project, Livingston Place.
Livingston Place at Southern Avenue is a 152-unit affordable community reserved for seniors aged 60 and above who require assistance with two or more activities of daily living. It is the first assisted-living community in Washington, D.C.’s Ward 8, and only the second affordable assisted-living community in the entire District. Aging residents want to live in a community setting while maintaining their privacy, but they are often placed in nursing homes due to service needs. Communities like Livingston Place at Southern provide seniors with the assistance they need while allowing them to live in an active community of peers. The DC Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA or “the Agency”) is committed to helping D.C. seniors age in place in healthy, beautiful affordable housing.
Livingston Place has 152 apartment homes for seniors aged 60 and above. All the apartments are reserved for individuals or couples earning 60 percent or less of the area median income (AMI)and who qualify for Medicaid. In June 2019, DCHFA issued $50 million in tax-exempt bond financing and underwrote $15.3 million in LIHTC equity. The $67 million development consists of 84 efficiencies and 68 one-bedroom apartments. While much of the affordable housing across the District of Columbia is financed by the Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF), this project is unique in that it did not receive any money from the fund. This allows those dollars to be used elsewhere, thus creating even more units of affordable housing in the District. Dantes Partners, Gilbane Development Company, Carding Group and H Street Community Development Corporation make up the development team for this project.