Greenville Housing Fund Request for Proposal

Greenville Housing Fund seeks a consultant to expand upon the affordable housing strategies completed for the City of Greenville (2016) and County of Greenville (2018) and develop a profile of the need for affordable housing and create strategies for addressing the problem in both the City and County of Greenville. Specifically, the consultant should address the following:

1. Create Affordable Housing Metrics Dashboard. Review the attached list of existing studies and reports on affordable housing needs for the City of Greenville and Greenville County (and related information). Present City and County data (at the Census tract and block level where available), separately and consolidated, suggest possible metrics, create a dashboard of the 4-6 key metrics to monitor, and create the methodology for ongoing measurement.
   1. Purpose of Request: Create a dashboard to identify a succinct and data-driven methodology for defining and understanding the affordable housing environment in Greenville. [Note: We may have an internal dashboard with City and County data separately, and a combined dashboard available publicly.]
   2. Additional Purpose of Request: Identify gaps in the existing supply and demand for affordable rental and homeownership housing by Area Median Income (AMI) (e.g., >30% AMI, >50% AMI, >80-120%) and where the data indicates more units are needed (e.g., Does the data validate that "Missing Middle" incomes between $35K and $55K need assistance.) (Note: This impacts potential solutions as different solutions are needed for different quintiles.)
   3. Result: Develop a web-based, mobile accessed dashboard that easily updates to reflect status and extent of the problem and track progress. If partnerships are required for website development, GHF will consider these partnerships.
   4. Potential examples: Though none are as simple, or as effective as we envision ours could be, some benchmarks might include:
      
      Boulder, Colorado. https://bouldercolorado.gov/boulder-measures/affordable-housing-dashboard
      Bend, Oregon. https://www.bendoregon.gov/government/city-council/performance-dashboard#Goal3
      Chapel Hill, North Carolina. https://www.townofchapelhill.org/town-hall/departments-services/housing-and-community/affordable-housing/affordable-housing-quarterly-reports/affordable-housing-dashboard
      Honolulu, Hawaii. http://www.honolulu.gov/dashboard
2. Provide Affordable Housing Solution Strategies. Offer written menus of innovative, scalable solutions to Greenville's affordable housing opportunities and challenges. The solutions may be strategy-driven or specific policies. GHF seeks several solutions on how to measurably impact the affordable housing 4-6 key metrics identified in (1). The solutions may be driven by what is possible to achieve in both a 5- and 10-year time frame (solutions by 2025 and 2030), and may be measured by units delivered and/or units preserved.
   1. Purpose of Request: Use these solutions to develop and commit to a strategic plan to implement scalable solutions for next five to ten years. The research will identify the most impactful role for GHF in order to create the best strategies to improve the dashboard benchmarks. If the consultant is knowledgeable of best practices in affordable housing solutions, then GHF seeks action ideas and strategies of cities/counties with effective strategies to develop partnerships for benchmarking.
   2. Result: Provide a written document (paper and electronic pdf) and PowerPoint presentation offering potential solutions, policies, and estimates of potential positive impact of such solutions. Consultant may identify strengths, weaknesses, and likelihood of success for each potential solution.

Resources Available to the Consultant:

Greenville Housing Fund will provide to the Consultant the following resources to accomplish the deliverables:

• Access to affordable housing research identified by the City of Greenville and Greenville County.
• Access to interviews with key stakeholders identified by the Greenville Housing Fund.

Timeline for Request:

Deadline for submission is June 10, 2019 at 5:00 pm.

Outline for Proposals:

Interested consultants should submit:

• Project plan (not to exceed 2 pages) including a detailed timeline for key activities
• Detailed project cost plan including expected pertinent expenses
• Description of team members that will lead and staff the project
• Summary of qualifications, including at least three recent client references

Qualifications:

Consultant should have a proven track record in affordable housing and community development planning, strategic thinking and implementation, and core skills in defining and relating key metrics to develop measurable outcomes through solution-based planning and innovation.

Consultant should have strong skills in data analysis, writing, interpersonal and technical skills, and have ability to interact with diverse stakeholders.

Submission: Submit RFP responses electronically to bbrown@greenvillehousingfund.com

Inquiries and questions about this RFP should be sent to: bbrown@greenvillehousingfund.com

Additional Resources:

1. A brief summary of the Greenville Housing Fund is attached.
2. The following research and additional information will be made available electronically:

Example of a comprehensive research report with identified strategies and funding: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55dcbb61e4b04de53492b533/t/58b9c43f9de4bb2be93071b2/1489074761352/AHACO+Research+Report+FINAL+February+2017.pdf

City Studies:

czb Study: https://greenvillesc.gov/1275/Affordable-Housing

Neighborhood master plans and the West Side Comprehensive Plan at: https://greenvillesc.gov/250/Neighborhood-Plans

In 2012, the City of Greenville completed the Citywide Housing Strategy which can be found here: https://greenvillesc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3322

In 2015, the City of Greenville completed the Affordable Housing Strategy which can be found here: https://greenvillesc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4259/Affordable-Housing-Assessment?bidId=

County Studies:

The Greenville County Affordable Housing Study (czb) http://www.gcra-sc.org/images/stories/greenville_county_housing_study_2018.pdf

The Greenville County Consolidated Plan http://www.gcra-sc.org/about/news/48-consolidated-and-annual-action-plans.html

Greenville Housing Fund Vision...

a future where every neighborhood in Greenville is thriving and affordable for all.

History... in 2016, a comprehensive survey of local affordable housing needs concluded that the City of Greenville and Greenville County were over 11,500 units short of affordable housing. In response, the Greenville City Council committed $2 million in initial funding to launch the Greenville Housing Fund (GHF), under the fiscal agency of CommunityWorks, a well-established local community and economic development non-profit and CDFI. An active, diverse GHF Board of Directors, representing public, private, and non-profit entities across Greenville, began work in January 2018.

Function...GHF is in a unique position to "connect the dots" between developers, lenders, policy makers and the community at large, and create partnerships to secure funding, acquire land, finance projects, and advocate for systemic change to support the goal of preserving and producing affordable places to live.

GHF advocates for affordable places to live... through community engagement and advocacy.

GHF invests in the development of affordable homes... through funding programs and financing.

GHF secures land for those developments... by acquiring, banking, and providing land for affordable housing.

GHF serves...GHF investments and development partnerships are meant to serve working families making up to $55,000/year. Over 14,800 Greenville households earn less than $50,000/year. One-third of the new jobs currently being created in the county average less than $22,000 annually.

Funding secured to date.... $5.2 million, from public, private, and corporate entities, including local foundations, the United Way, and the faith community.

Active Programs...

• Project Financing: 11 Letters of Intent submitted, with four projects funded totaling 303 units mobilizing $1.3 million during first year of GHF operation; additional projects under review.
• Homeownership Preservation Program (HOPP): two initial awards to contractor-partners for renovations to owner-occupied housing in neighborhoods under pressure for gentrification.
• Land Bank: acquisition of multiple critical properties in target neighborhoods, in partnership with the City of Greenville, the Greenville Housing Authority, and private sellers/donors.
• Advocacy/Outreach: Dialogue with public-private partners through Greenville Chamber, Homebuilders Association, Greenville Homeless Alliance, neighborhood groups. Lunch-n-learns on affordable housing for banking community and downtown merchants. Jointly-sponsored community events and forums highlighting affordable housing/transit, affordable housing/health, and "missing middle" housing concerns, and the role of the faith community. Participation in land use policy idea exchanges, and the City/County comprehensive planning processes.

Leadership...after a national search, Bryan Brown joined GHF, the first President & CEO on 4/29/19.