| Housing shortages are bad for communities.
Some may think that a housing shortage is good because it raises property values,
but in the long run, the entire community looses. Businesses need a local workforce
to compete in the marketplace. That workforce needs to be able to afford housing
within a reasonable distance to their work. When job growth surpasses housing
production an affordable housing and labor crisis occurs. It is important to maintain
a jobs-to-housing balance. Communities need to emphasize the creation of new jobs
and affordable housing. New businesses can't survive and established businesses
can't expand without a local workforce. Business and housing work in partnership
to create economically healthy communities. The absence of either component puts
a community at risk.
WRJ Group specializes in creating
and adapting new and innovative affordable housing programs for traditionally under-served
communities. Our partnerships create a balance between jobs and affordable housing,
and contribute to a wide range of needs for a sustainable and livable community.
Some local
projects include:
Earth Pledge Viridian Project
Earth Pledge’s Viridian services facilitate the installation of green roofs as an integral part of green building approaches for multifamily affordable housing projects. Through education, integrated design services, financing and materials supply, Viridian’s goal is to support the installation of 200 green roofs on affordable housing projects by 2010. Our approach aims to deliver the benefits of cost-effective green roof technology—energy savings, healthier indoor air quality, reduced stormwater runoff, building durability, and pleasing open space—to residents of low-income communities.
For more information on Green Roofs please visit www.earthpledge.org or review one of the many presentations of Earth Pledge Los Angeles.
Earth Pledge Los Angeles Presentation to (SCANPH) Southern California Association of Non-Profit Developers July 11, 2007
Earth Pledge Los Angeles Presentation to Ballona Creek Watershed Task Force July 17, 2007
Earth Pledge Interview on Green Roofs
Childcare Program - Enterprise Foundation The Enterprise Foundation provides low-income people with affordable
housing, safer streets and access to jobs and childcare. Enterprise Foundation
works with partners and a network of more than 1,100 nonprofit organizations.
Since its inception in 1982, The Enterprise Foundation has raised and committed
more than $2.7 billion in loans, grants and equity to build or renovate 100,000
apartments and homes in more than 400 sites. The WRJ Groups works closely with
the Enterprise Foundation. A program to in-home childcare providers was
launched in July 1999 in Los Angeles. The majority of in-home childcare providers
in Los Angeles are in rental homes. These are long-term stable tenants because
their businesses are tied to their neighborhoods and to the families they serve.
As the real estate market improves, these businesses worry about having their
rents increase or losing their homes and businesses when their rental home is
sold. The program creates home ownership counseling and education to childcare
providers about home ownership as a tool to stabilize their business and build
their credit. "Owning your own home is a dream that transcends all conditions
and factors and binds us together as community. To know that your home provides
safety and a sense of well being not only to your family, but to children in need
of care, is one of the greatest gifts we can give a neighborhood," said
Rey Ramsey, Enterprise president. The Enterprise Foundation is working with the
City of Los Angeles, Bank of America, Freddie Mac, and the WRJ Group to implement
the program. The need is great. More than 200 childcare providers attended the
first set of orientation meetings. Visit the Enterprise
Foundation's Web site for more information about the organization and its
projects. Housing Trust Fund - Orange County Affordable Home
Ownership Alliance The Orange County Affordable Home Ownership Alliance
(OCAHOA) develops solutions to increase the availability and supply of affordable
housing for working families. OCAHOA is a collaboration of business and civic
leaders. The organization was founded in 1999 by the Orange County Business Council,
Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Bank, Fannie Mae, Building Industry Association, and
the Enterprise Foundation in response to an affordable housing crisis in Orange
County, Calif. The WRJ Group is actively involved with OCAHOA and is the
company in charge of fundraising and development of the OCAHOA Housing Trust Fund.
The Trust, started in July 2002, is an ambitious project to help meet the financial
needs of developers to create affordable homeownership opportunities specifically
for Orange County. The fund raising goal is to raise $5 million dollars the first
year to offset the growing costs of housing.
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