REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Hold Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA) Hearing and Adopt Resolution Related to Proposed Issuance of Tax Exempt Revenue Bonds for Preservation of "Life's Garden" Affordable Senior Apartments at 450 Old San Francisco Road in Sunnyvale
Report
BACKGROUND
Life's Garden is a senior housing project developed in 1974 by a non-profit affiliate of the Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church (Sunnyvale Life, Inc.) with partial financing from the federal government. The property consists of 209 affordable and market-rate apartments for seniors aged 62 and older, including a mix of studios and one-bedroom units. The federal Section 8 contract subsidizes 150 of the units for very low income seniors. Although the project was developed by a church affiliate, the project is open to all applicants regardless of religious affiliation, and complies with all state and federal fair housing laws.
The City has not provided any funding to Life's Garden in the past. However, the property is listed on the At-Risk Housing Inventory in the City's Housing Element because its current term of affordability expires in 2017. As the only subsidized housing project on that list with an affordability term expiring in the current Housing Element period (2015-2023), the Housing Element includes a City objective to assist the property owner in its efforts to rehabilitate and preserve the property as an affordable housing project for the long term.
In early 2015, Sunnyvale Life, Inc. issued a request for proposals to select an experienced affordable housing developer to help it rehabilitate and preserve Life's Garden. After reviewing several proposals, in July 2015, Sunnyvale Life, Inc. selected Beacon Communities, Inc. (Beacon) for this purpose, and formed a limited liability corporation (LLC) with Beacon to carry out the project (Sunnyvale Life, LLC). Beacon Communities is a subsidiary of ABHOW, a nonprofit housing and health care provider focu...
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