Research & Innovations

From the King County Housing Authority's press release:

KCHA has named our Central Administrative Campus in Tukwila, Wash., as the Stephen J. Norman Opportunity Campus in recognition of Mr. Norman’s 25 years of stewardship of KCHA and his outstanding service to the communities of King County.

A dedication ceremony held at our campus Sept. 24th honored Mr. Norman for his many achievements in housing our neighbors and improving communities throughout the region.

During his tenure, the number of households assisted on a daily basis by KCHA more than doubled, providing more than 50,000 individuals with safe, affordable housing. He focused on housing and on empowering the region’s poorest and most vulnerable households.

Mr. Norman created KCHA’s first Resident Services and Social Impact Departments to work with community partners in support of housing stability, health, self-sufficiency, and educational outcomes for KCHA’s clients:

• Working with local public and behavioral health care systems and with local non-profit housing and service providers, KCHA created an extensive network of supportive housing for homeless youth, veterans, child welfare involved families, survivors of domestic violence, individuals living with disabilities and other at-risk community members. More than 5,000 individuals are housed through these programs every day.
• KCHA also worked in close partnership with the region’s school districts, community colleges, Headstart program and organizations such as the Boys and Girls Clubs to support the more than 20,000 youth that it helps house. To facilitate these efforts, KCHA built a network of 18 Early Learning and After-School Centers on its properties.

Mr. Norman’s vision encompassed the equitable distribution of housing opportunities throughout the region – involving the construction, rehabilitation and acquisition of affordable housing in all communities. He:

• Significantly expanded KCHA’s inventory of workforce housing, building or acquiring more than 5,000 units of permanently affordable housing. Many of these acquisitions were in affluent or rapidly gentrifying areas of the County, preventing significant displacement of existing residents. Several of these sites, including Wonderland Estates and Highland Village, were already slated for closure and redevelopment as market-rate housing when KCHA intervened.
• Developed new approaches to blending multiple kinds of housing into a variety of neighborhoods, integrating communities and creating nationally recognized models that paved a pathway for low-income families to move to high opportunity neighborhoods. In recognition of his leadership on this issue, Mr. Norman was honored by the Poverty & Race Research Action Council at its Conference on Housing Mobility in 2021.
• Led KCHA in redeveloping 120 acres in White Center, one of the poorest communities in King County, into Greenbridge and Seola Gardens – vibrant, award-winning mixed-income communities with more than 1,000 units of housing.
• Invested heavily in KCHA’s public housing through a robust program of maintenance and capital improvements, earning KCHA national recognition for the quality of its public housing inventory.

Mr. Norman served as President of the Council of Large Housing Authorities (CLPHA) from 2012 to 2021 where he worked with the leadership at HUD and with the United States Congress to support and expand affordable housing opportunities. He served as the Chair of the Board of the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) from 2017-2024 and helped initiate a series of collaborative efforts between these two organizations to coordinate health, homelessness and housing efforts on the national level.

Mr. Norman has been recognized for his work both nationally and locally by diverse organizations including: The National Conference on Housing Mobility; the Washington State Housing Finance Commission; The White Center Boys and Girls Club; Building Changes for his work in addressing homelessness; and both Navos Mental Health Solutions and Valley Cities Counseling for his work on mental health issues. He is a recipient of the Norm Maleng Award from Lifewire for his efforts to house survivors of domestic violence.

Mr. Norman started his career as a community organizer in New York City. He retired from KCHA in 2021 after dedicating more than 45 years to affordable housing issues around the country, including serving as New York City’s first Assistant Housing Commissioner for Homeless Housing Development and as the establishing Vice-President of the Corporation for Supportive Housing.

From the Durham Housing Authority's press release:

Durham Housing Authority (DHA) and Laurel Street are pleased to announce the grand opening celebration of The Vanguard Apartments and groundbreaking for the next phase of the East Main redevelopment, Dillard Street Apartments.

Located in downtown Durham, Vanguard Apartments is a mixed-income development that includes one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartment homes for individuals and families. Building amenities include storage lockers, a multipurpose room, fitness center, computer lab, playground, and outdoor picnic space. Vanguard represents the first phase of the redevelopment of two aging public housing properties, 519 East Main and Liberty Street Apartments, into a vibrant, mixed income community. Twenty-one (21) of the units are prioritized for former residents of 519 E. Main and Liberty Street.

“There’s no greater feeling than seeing the former site transform into its next generational purpose as we expand housing opportunities for the Durham community,” said Durham Housing Authority Interim CEO Anthony Snell. “These major milestones demonstrate our continued commitment to building communities that reflect – and serve – the people of Durham. This work would not be possible without support from the City of Durham’s Forever Home, Durham program, which was funded by the $95 million housing bond approved in 2019.” “The citizens and leadership of Durham endorsed the visionary concepts of the DDNP and provided the vital financial support to execute on the implementation.”

Also located on the same site, Dillard Street Apartments is another mixed-income development that includes 146 affordable and market-rate apartment homes. A community center will be built as part of this phase, which will include a community room, fitness center, computer lab and playground. Sixty-four (64) of the units are prioritized for former residents of 519 E. Main and Liberty. This is the third phase of redevelopment of 519 East Main/Liberty site and second to be supported by the $40 million Choice Neighborhoods Grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to DHA and the City of Durham in 2022.

“The opening of the Vanguard Apartments exemplifies the City of Durham’s continuing commitment to providing safe, accessible and affordable housing for its residents,” said Leonardo Williams, Mayor of the City of Durham. “I appreciate the partnership with DHA, Laurel Street and other partners to deliver this new development for our Durham residents who deserve the best quality of living at an affordable price.”

“Our ongoing partnership with the Durham Housing Authority reflects our shared commitment to create thriving mixed-income communities in downtown Durham,” said Dionne Nelson, President and CEO of Laurel Street. “Thanks to our public and private partners, Laurel Street is committed to the redevelopment and growth of East Main Street into a thriving neighborhood,” she added.

“Our team at Fifth Third is so proud to support this project that brings more safe, affordable housing to downtown Durham," said Lee Fite, Carolina’s region president for Fifth Third. “The collaboration that leads to today’s celebration takes many committed partners, and it’s a testament to what public-private partnerships can achieve when all parties share a common purpose to create a more vibrant community for all.”

The Vanguard and Dillard Street Apartments’ total cost is $81 million. Major financing partners for the project include the Durham Housing Authority, the City of Durham, the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, RBC Capital Markets, Fifth Third Bank, First Citizens Bank, JP Morgan Chase, the Community Development Trust, Cedar Rapids Banks and Trust, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Choice Neighborhoods Program.

From the San Diego Housing Commission's press release:

Located about two miles from the beach and a mile from a transit center in one of San Diego’s high-opportunity communities, the Rose Creek Village development celebrated its groundbreaking today, commemorating the start of construction that will produce 59 new studio apartments with rents affordable to households with low income.

“Projects this extraordinary only happen when we come together as a community and work together to get this done,” San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said. “I think this is really exciting, and it’s a template for what we ought to be doing more of in our community.”

The City of San Diego awarded a $4 million loan to Rose Creek Village through the City’s Bridge to Home program. Additionally, permits were processed through the City’s Affordable Housing Permit Now program, which Mayor Gloria said averages eight days to review projects like Rose Creek Village, and the development received a density bonus from the City.

“Every community in San Diego deserves to have housing that is affordable for residents to live in,” said City Council President Pro Tem Kent Lee, Chair of the Council’s Land Use and Housing Committee. “We’re going to continue to fight for that to ensure that we continue to place housing next to the great jobs, the great schools, and the good transit that we have in our region.”

San Diego Community Housing Corporation (SDCHC) and National Community Renaissance of California (National CORE) are developing Rose Creek Village in collaboration with the City of San Diego, the County of San Diego, the San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) and additional partners.

“It takes a lot of work just to get to this point in the development process and a lot more work will be done in the coming months as Rose Creek Village takes shape,” SDHC Senior Vice President of Real Estate Development Colin Miller said. “We know that breaking ground today brings us that much closer to at least 59 more people in our community, including 18 veterans, having a place to call home that they can afford.”

SDHC awarded a $2 million loan to support the development. SDHC’s loan consists of funds SDHC administers, including HOME Investment Partnerships Program funds that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awards to the City of San Diego and the City of San Diego’s Affordable Housing Fund.

SDHC also awarded 47 housing vouchers to help Rose Creek Village residents pay rent. Of those, 18 are Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers for veterans experiencing homelessness. These vouchers are tied directly to this development, so when a household moves on, the voucher remains to help another household with low income.

“This development will remain affordable for 55 years and it'll be situated in the community designated as a high-resource area by the State of California,” said David Estrella, Director of the County of San Diego's Health and Human Services Agency's Housing and Community Development Services department. “By assisting with the creation of affordable housing and pairing that with much-needed services, we're improving the health of future residents, creating a safe and livable environment for them and cultivating opportunities for these future residents to thrive.”

The County awarded a loan of more than $4 million to Rose Creek Village through the No Place Like Home program.

Veterans residing at Rose Creek Village with VASH vouchers will be identified through the Regional Task Force on Homelessness’ Coordinated Entry System. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) San Diego Healthcare System will provide supportive services for these residents.

“When we look at last year's Point-in-Time Count, we dropped overall the total number of sheltered and unsheltered veterans by 26 percent,” said Dr. Frank Pearson, Director of the VA San Diego Healthcare System. “I want to acknowledge how that's all happened, and it's teamwork. It's this collaboration that we talk about.”

Rose Creek Village will remain affordable for 55 years for households with incomes up to 60 percent of San Diego’s Area Median Income (AMI), currently $69,480 per year for a one-person household. There will be one unrestricted manager’s unit in addition to the 59 affordable apartments.

“We believe it’s the right project here—at the right time, in the right place. It addresses the housing, the infrastructure, and the revitalization needs of Garnet (Avenue) and does so in a way that at least the developers and many of the community people living here today believe is in character and is in scale with the surrounding neighborhood,” said John Seymour, National CORE’s Vice President of Acquisitions and Forward Planning for San Diego.

“We felt strongly that this was a community that needed housing,” said John Wurster, SDCHC’s Senior Vice President of Development. “I think when this is built, not just the people in this room who are real believers and easy to convince, but the public is going to see what a community good and benefit that this project is going to be.”

The Hope Through Housing Foundation, a nonprofit affiliate of National CORE, will be the property’s lead service provider, offering a variety of services to residents, such as financial literacy, computer training, home-buyer education, GED classes, resume building classes, ESL, nutrition class, exercise class, health information/awareness, art class, parenting class, on-site food cultivation and preparation classes, and smoking cessation classes.

“I have no doubt Rose Creek will change lives,” said AJ Galka, Assistant Vice President of Operations and Supportive Housing for the Hope Through Housing Foundation. “It's going to give people more than just a roof. It will give them roots, established roots, and from those roots, incredible things will grow.”

Rose Creek Village is being constructed west of Interstate 5 and north of Mission Bay, in San Diego’s Pacific Beach neighborhood. Three San Diego Metropolitan Transit System bus stops are within a mile of the property, and it is approximately one mile from the Balboa Avenue Transit Station where trolley service is available on the Blue Line.

The site is adjacent to the Rose Creek walking and biking trail. It is also within walking distance of grocery stores, schools, restaurants and parks. The property will be entirely powered by electricity, and will use rooftop and façade solar panels.