Housing Opportunities, Inc. (HOI) is pleased to announce the recent award of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and HOME Funds from Kansas Housing Resources Corporation (KHRC) for a planned 28-unit project in Great Bend, Cambridge Park, LLC. These combined housing awards total up to nearly $6 million. KHRC awarded 12 projects out of 27 applications received. HOI will purchase 24 acres of land from a group of local doctors and Cambridge Park will be Phase 1 of a four-phase projection for this property over the next 8-10 years. The construction is planned to begin in Spring 2022 and is located directly East of UKHS Great Bend Campus and directly South of Wal-Mart. HOI and the project will add Grant St from 6th to 2nd Streets and will extend 6th Street 150 feet East as a part of this phase. Additional streets will be added as the phases are completed.
Cambridge Park is a project combining supportive services provided by Sunflower Diversified Services to allow the project to cater to their clientele. The vision of this project started in December 2018 with Vicky Dayton, the former Executive Director of HOI, and Jon Prescott with Sunflower Diversified Services, collaborating on the lack of appropriate housing for those with limited capabilities to navigate typical apartment and housing floor plans and requiring certain services to meet their activities of daily living needs.
“Watching this project come to life knowing all of the people that will benefit from it has been so uplifting. Cambridge Park has components that HOI has never done before throughout our history as a company and we have welcomed the challenges and obstacles with open arms. HOI is beyond humbled to be a part of helping SDS provide safe and affordable housing for their clients; especially knowing they have struggled to find housing for some time now. I would also like to extend a huge thank you and nod of appreciation to the group of doctors that have worked with HOI and given us the opportunity to purchase this large 24-acre property in order for this project, and many others, to come to fruition. It truly means so much for HOI’s future!” Callie Miller – HOI Executive Director
The units will include 1-and 2-bedroom duplexes with 1 car attached garages. The project will also include a functional Community Building for tenant use. In additional, two single-room occupancy buildings will be comprised of 8 units split into loft style units each with a kitchenette and a private bathroom. Common living spaces, laundry facilities, and full kitchens are also included on each side of the building to encourage a community shared living area. Office space will be included for SDS staff that connects both side of each building.
"We are so excited to work with Housing Opportunities (HOI) to achieve better housing for those we support - individuals with intellectual disabilities. This dream started over four years ago and it started gaining traction when I had the opportunity to talk about this dream with Vicky Dayton, which was over 3-years. And when Vicky retired, Callie Miller has done an outstanding job keeping this dream project moving closer to reality. In addition to HOI working so hard to get this project approved by the state of Kansas, the Doctor's group who owned the property we needed were very enthusiastic about the vision we had, and they were extremely easy to work with so that HOI could acquire the property. These Doctors consist of Dr. Hildebrand, Dr. Smith, Dr. Brozek, and Dr Fleske - a BIG THANK YOU goes to them because without their willingness to partner with HOI and Sunflower to meet
the needs of our clients, we would have never been able to get started. Houses in Great Bend that are Disability Accessible are next to impossible to find and now those with disabilities will have a great option to lease property that is designed to meet their specific needs.” - Jon Prescott, CEO of Sunflower Diversified Services, Inc.
HOI will be part owner and the General Contractor for Cambridge Park, as well as providing management and maintenance services when completed.
HOI is a Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO) in the state of Kansas, a private non-profit, community-based service organization that has a staff with the capacity to develop affordable housing for the communities it serves. There are 22 CHDO’s in Kansas with only 13 actively developing properties in the last 5 years.