‘First-of-its-kind’ AltCap investment pool aims to transform Kansas City’s urban blight
August 27, 2018 | Startland News Staff
With more than 5,000 blighted homes and vacant lots, Kansas City’s urban core might soon see some help thanks to new AltCap investment pool.
AltCap, a Kansas City-based community development financial institution, has partnered with Legal Aid of Western Missouri and Stinson Leonard Street to create a fund that’s focused on rehabilitation of housing in Kansas City’s urban core. The effort already has raised $305,000 from local investors and the First Federal Bank of Kansas City.
The “first-of-its-kind partnership” will provide title clearing services and loans to rehabbers restoring abandoned homes in the urban core, said AltCap president Ruben Alonso III. AltCap will manage the funds, underwriting and services loans to rehabbers that are working in partnership with neighborhood associations, he added.
“The short-term loans will be used to hire laborers, contractors, plumbers, electricians and other construction trades, creating local jobs and supporting economic activity, while revitalizing homes and neighborhoods in the urban core,” he said.
Abandoned homes often attract crime, reduce property values and diminish the quality of life for people who live in the area, AltCap said. The KC Social Investment Pool helps revitalize urban core neighborhoods by providing the funding to allow rehabbers to turn blighted properties into quality homes for working, low-income families.
The 29 neighborhoods that are eligible for the program include:
- Scarritt
- Indian Mound
- Lykins
- Independence Plaza
- East 23rd St. PAC
- Blue Valley
- Sheffield
- Washington Wheatley
- Key Coalition
- Santa Fe
- Mount Hope
- Boston Heights
- Ivanhoe
- Oak Park
- Palestine
- Vineyard
- 49/63
- Blue Hills
- Town Fork Creek
- Mt. Cleveland
- Swope Parkway / Elmwood
- Marlborough East
- Marlborough West
- Tri-Blenheim
- Neighborhoods United for Action (NUFA)
- Ruskin
- Forgotten Homes
- Manheim Park
For those interested in learning more, AltCap and Legal Aid are hosting a workshop at 11:30 a.m., Thursday, Sept. 13 at the Seton Center, 2816 E. 23rd St., Kansas City, MO 64127. Additional information is available at www.alt-cap.org/home-rehab or by contacting Davin Gordon, AltCap business development officer at davin@alt-cap.org
Featured Business
2018 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
He dreams of a pickle truck driving through your neighborhood; How word of mouth fuels Ritchie Cherry’s Good Ass Pickles
Ritchie Cherry has good friends to thank for his latest business venture, Good Ass Pickles, he shared. After trying his sweet and spicy garlic pickles during the pandemic, he said, they encouraged him to sell them — with one friend even buying him a case of jars to fill. “They all just started me off,…
KC’s first Hispanic beer company faces make-or-break holiday season; this popup could tap its potential
A holiday-time popup location for Kansas City’s first Hispanic brewing company offers a taste of what’s to come if Rizoma Liquid Creations gains the support it needs for a brick-and-mortar space of its own, said Damon Arredondo. “We can’t get the capital at this moment, so doing these events allows us to bring in potential…
Pipeline entrepreneur expands his Omaha-based senior living network into Kansas City
A 10-market expansion for HomeCare Advocacy Network is expected to bring the Omaha-based company to Lee’s Summit and Overland Park as Mark Goetz and his team work to provide personal care and specialized services for seniors who wish to age in place. “With one of the largest metropolitan areas in the Midwest, the Greater Kansas…
Raygun’s anti-leaf blower agenda might have triggered rock-in-a-sock vandal at KC store, founder jokes
Mike Draper has only one regret after someone threw a rock wrapped in a sock at one of the display windows at Raygun’s Crossroads store last week. “We did not keep the rock,” lamented the boutique retail operation’s Des Moines-based founder. “People were like, ‘Oh, you should sell the rock in the sock’ and we’re…