Energy efficiency, transportation, poverty alleviation the focus of Moving Forward 2.0 with IHCDA, ESN

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA) and Energy Systems Network (ESN) held a two-day workshop last week at the Indiana Nature Conservancy in Downtown Indianapolis for the two Community Action Agencies (CAAs) selected to participate in the  Moving Forward 2.0 Program. The workshop focused on creating innovative solutions to affordable housing that at the same time breaks the cycle of generational poverty.

On August 26, 2016, it was announced that the Area IV Agency on Aging and Community Action Programs, Inc. and the Community Action of Greater Indianapolis, Inc. (CAGI) were selected as the two teams participating in this year’s program. A total of five CAAs responded to the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) distributed on May 27, 2016.

“It was important for us to include our partners at the Indiana Association of Community Action Agencies (INCAA) and our network of CAAs in this year’s program,” said Jacob Sipe, Executive Director of IHCDA. “These agencies are uniquely positioned and qualified to address generational poverty in all 92 Indiana counties. We were overwhelmed with the outpouring of support and interest in participating in the program.”

Last week’s workshop featured subject matter experts from across the country, assembled by ESN, collaborating around building an infrastructure of energy-efficient affordable housing, transportation, and poverty alleviation. Goals of the workshop included:

• Early collaboration to set the stage for success
• Establishing a strategy in each of five areas to achieve the minimum and stretch goals in their affordable housing developments: transportation, built environment, systems integration, energy efficiency, and supply and poverty, policy and finance
• Developing high-level integrated solutions that meet the stretch goals

“We again assembled the best and the brightest subject matter experts to design this year’s Moving Forward developments,” said Paul Mitchell, president, and CEO of ESN. “With last year’s teams preparing to break ground on their Moving Forward designs, this program will be delivering a total of four of the most innovative and high quality of life developments in the state. These developments integrate affordable and high-quality housing, energy efficiency, and transportation to provide real-world solutions for their residents.”

At the conclusion of the workshop, the development teams shared their preliminary design concepts with INCAA, IHCDA, and leadership from several other government agencies and philanthropic organizations. Following the creation of their full development concepts, both teams will be able to submit Rental Housing Tax Credit (RHTC) applications of up to $750,000 each under the General Set-aside* in July 2017.

The Moving Forward Program received endorsement from the Indiana Bicentennial Commission (IBC) as a Bicentennial Legacy Project last year. The two development teams participating in the first year of the program (BWI, LLC, and Pedcor) plan to break ground on new affordable housing developments in Fort Wayne and Bloomington, respectively, early next year.

*Per the Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP, IHCDA will reserve 10% of its RHTC for the IHCDA General Set-aside. Under this set-aside, IHCDA reserves credits for developments that further the Authority’s mission, goals, initiatives, and priorities irrespective of the ranking by evaluation factors. The QAP states that the Authority will exercise its sole discretion in the allocation of the IHCDA General Set-aside.