Developments and other Initiatives

Ann Avenue

RBCLT is working on several housing developments throughout St. Louis. RBCLT collaborated on the Ann Avenue Permanently Affordable Housing Development with YEHS and YouthBuild St. Louis AmeriCorps. This development at 708 Ann in the Soulard neighborhood consists of two affordable homes, a two-bedroom and a four-bedroom.

The two homes are detached homes, a rear and front building on the same parcel of land. The front building is a two-bedroom that has many accessibility features, including a ramped entrance, wheelchair-accessible bathroom, handrails, wider doorways and lower light switches. In addition to featuring some universal design, the two-bedroom include energy-efficient and green building concepts in its renovation. With the assistance of a lead abatement grant, YEHS and YouthBuild made the two homes lead-safe. A family with two children purchased the four-bedroom and we expect to close on the front two-bedroom in 2010. The sales price of this home is $68,000 -- families below 60% Area Median Income are able to afford them. These homes are permanently affordable so that when the first family decides to sell, the next limited-income homebuyer can also afford to purchase the home. The public resources that were invested in this affordable housing project will be recycled over time.

Bohemian Hill

RBCLT is also currently working with YEHS and The Landmarks Association of St. Louis on the Affordable Housing in St. Louis initiative on a development on Bohemian Hill near Tucker and Lafayette. The development consists of two buildings that YEHS and YouthBuild are renovating and a vacant lot at 1805 S. Tucker. With the expertise of RBCLT Board member Sarah Coffin, in 2006 RBCLT was awarded a $65,000 Environmental Protection Agency grant through the Missouri Environmental Improvement and Energy Resources Authority to remove the underground storage tanks of the former gas station. The remediation is now complete and RBCLT has received the Department of Natural Resource's Brownfield Voluntary Cleanup Program to "no further action" letter.

Dutchtown / Benton Park West Development

Over the next 18 months, RBCLT and Youth Education and Health in Soulard are renovating six homes in the Dutchtown area in south St. Louis for limited-income families. RBCLT will develop six affordable homes--3 for families below 80% area median income ($43,450 for a family of two) and 3 for families below 60% area median income ($32,600 for a family of two). The foreclosure crisis has impacted the Dutchtown neighborhood in St. Louis to such an extent that in one study, a 9-block area had 195 foreclosures out of 350 properties for sale in the last year. In response to large numbers of vacant foreclosed properties in Dutchtown, RBCLT will update foreclosed properties and help low-income families purchase them.

Financial Education

RBCLT and YEHS have also partnered to initiate the HUD-funded Financial Education Program to assist YouthBuild students and people in the community to clean up their credit with the goal of homeownership. In addition to teaching homebuyer education workshops, this Financial Education Program focuses on housing counseling, rental assistance counseling, and predatory lending. In 2008, the Financial Education Program provided 492 client services in the form of one-on-one counseling and homebuyer workshops to 209 clients. One-on-one counseling is proven effective in assisting families to purchase their first home and developing a solid financial future.

In our efforts to achieve our goals, we have reached out to many organizations to support the RBCLT mission. For example the St. Louis University Law Clinic provides legal support for our clients. The ACORN Housing program provides technical assistance. We also work with YouthBuild programs at Operation Excel and Emerson Park. We provide financial education to various Grace Hill locations.