Comment Detail

Comment

The AHP application requires that we input construction costs broken out in great detail. No other funder requires that we provide our budgets in such detail (they may want an attached cost estimate that provides that break out, but the total construction cost is used in the budgets they track). Since AHP is usually the first source we apply to (most WA state funding source applications are due in the fall) we often have preliminary design and cost information at the point that we apply for AHP. So these individual line items can and do change dramatically in the development process, even if our total budgets stay relatively the same. FHLB wants us to explain any changes in each line item over the life cycle of a project that may take 4 years to develop. That level of detail and documentation doesn't serve anyone's interest, I believe. You already have a Construction Cost Calculator that compares overall cost with comparable projects, so looking at individual line items seems unnecessary and burdensome. You also ask us to break out the cost of common space like laundry rooms and management offices, that are clearly related to the housing and would be included in the housing cost for most other funders. This is time consuming to do and doesn't, in my opinion, give you any useful information about whether AHP subsidy is needed and going toward a housing-related purpose. I believe if the cost is going toward residential space or residential amenities it should not need to be broken out separately. I am a development consultant, and I charge my clients based on my past experience with how much of my time it takes to manage a particular funding source. I charge more for using FHLB AHP than I do, for example, for the State Housing Trust fund, because your underwriting, closing and draw down process is so much more time consuming than other funders. So nonprofit sponsors are spending money paying me to manage AHP funds that could be better served going to creating more housing. For organizations that are small or new, AHP would be a great source since it is a grant and the monitoring is relatively easier than some other funders, if the process of applying for, closing and doing closeout documentation for the grants were easier.