Margaret Lineberry, Executive Director of Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC), shared her ideas for agency and program restructuring at the MHDC Board meeting last Friday. Her recommendations are intended to allow MHDC to operate its programs more cost effectively, and include both programmatic changes and internal restructuring of the organization to achieve more “bang for the buck.” Ms. Lineberry’s recommended changes include:
- Improve measurement and control of project costs, by requiring that developers provide documentation of all construction costs incurred on all projects;
- Develop a cost database that will allow MHDC to capture information on costs incurred and evaluate reasonableness of those costs;
- Impose new requirements and restrictions on certain characteristics of developments, including allowable square footage, number of bathrooms, number of garages and interior finishes;
- Require developments to continue to provide affordable housing for 30 years. Currently, tax credit projects are allowed to opt out of the program after 15 years and convert to market rate;
- Require the inclusion of service-enrichment aspects to affordable housing developments, including Head Start programs, GED programs, workforce training programs, health programs, home ownership education programs, etc.;
- Create a new Policy Development / Government Relations Department, charged with determining the best service-enrichment programs to be provided and aid in the development of future QAPs;
- Separate Construction Administration activities from the Underwriting Department to allow sufficient amount of attention to both areas.
