From the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority’s press release:
Harriet’s Hope, a new $13 million affordable housing community planned for construction at 1567 W. Broad Street in the Franklinton neighborhood, has received a major financial boost that will help advance the project from its current blueprint phase to eventual groundbreaking, the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) announced today.
The Ohio Finance Housing Agency (OFHA) included Harriet’s Hope in its award of highly coveted 9% Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) this year. The federal government annually allocates a limited amount of 9% LIHTC authority to state housing finance agencies on a per-capita basis, so the 9% LIHTC process is highly competitive and earning an award is regarded as a significant achievement that will help move Harriet’s Hope from vision to reality.
“This is a major victory that I would call a game-changer – without this LIHTC award from OFHA, this important and much-needed project might not have been able to happen,” said CMHA President and CEO Charles D. Hillman.
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Originally the brainchild of Beacon 360 Management CEO Celia Kendall, Harriet’s Hope will be a first-of-its-kind for Columbus community that will serve survivors of human trafficking. Kendall conceived of the name as an homage to Harriet Tubman, the slave-turned-abolitionist who rescued dozens of slaves from bondage.
Human trafficking has “devastated” central Ohio with over 9,000 statewide contacts to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in the past 12 years and 1,214 victims and survivors reported in 2019, Kendall said..
“We are delighted to have reached this critical milestone in the Harriet Hope’s project development,” said Kendall.
“There is an urgent need for diverse solutions that collaboratively address the human trafficking epidemic in central Ohio,” she added. “We envision Harriet's Hope as a vessel to bring hope, restoration, rehabilitation and freedom for our community's most vulnerable residents.”