FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU/KTVF) – Using $2 million in funding from the Rasmuson Foundation and congressionally directed spending, the nonprofit Fairbanks Neighborhood Housing Services (FNHS) has launched a project to fund the restoration of vacant and blighted housing within Fairbanks city limits to provide housing for those in need.
After working to secure funding for two years, the nonprofit is offering up to $50,000 (for a three or more-bedroom unit) or $40,000 (for a two-bedroom unit or smaller) to property owners to restore their properties, which must be currently vacant or abandoned, into quality rentals.
In exchange for the grant, property owners must agree to complete their renovations in 18 months and to rent through the nonprofit for the first five years after reopening.
These owners would be allowed to rent at fair market rates, and while clients of FNHS may not be able to afford these prices, there are other opportunities in the area for them to receive assistance, with the primary concern being to secure the housing.
The grants can also be used to build accessory dwelling units on an existing property and to convert non-residential property into housing.
This process, according to Executive Director Nadine Winters, is more cost-effective than building new properties, which can cost between $300,000 and $350,000.
She estimated the project could create an additional 40 units for the market while also helping to clean up properties that have become a blight on their neighborhoods.
According to Winters, the mission of FNHS, founded in 1993, is to “produce and maintain quality, affordable housing in the community.”
To that end, the organization owns and manages around 55 units of housing, many of them specifically for seniors, those with disabilities and mental illnesses, and people who need affordable housing, in addition to market units to help raise money to keep running the affordable housing.
“In addition to that, since there’s a housing shortage, part of our mission is to figure out ways to get new housing on the market,” Winters said.
She called the current housing situation in Fairbanks “grim,” saying that has been the case for the last couple of years, and that the organization has 200 people on its waitlist for housing, with wait times varying between a month and more than a year.
“There’s just a lack of housing,” Winters explained. “There’s a lack of affordable housing. There’s a lack of quality housing.
It doesn’t matter if you have money or not. Housing is extremely difficult to find right now.”
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