‘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
Meet the 12 KC companies pledging to buy from diverse vendors; Join them in the CEO-to-CEO Challenge
Editor’s note: The following story was sponsored by KC Rising, a regional initiative to help Kansas City grow faster and more intentionally, as part of a campaign to promote its CEO-to-CEO Challenge on supplier diversity. A dozen high-profile Kansas City companies are at the vanguard of a new regional effort to boost supplier diversity programs…
We all need help, honey: Nearly 3/4 of entrepreneurs are haunted by depression (Holistic Hustle)
Kharissa Forte is a writer, certified health coach, and columnist for Startland News. For more of her self-care tips on how to keep your cup full, visit graceandgrind.co. You did it. After all the nights dreaming about how amazing it could be and overcoming the endless stream of what-ifs that stopped you from moving forward…
Earworms to the Oscars: They’ve redefined jingle writing, now composing music for motion (pictures)
Notes of passion are composed throughout every piece of Sam Billen’s entrepreneurial melody. But it’s the most recent crescendo in his career that has him thanking the Academy. “It sounds cheesy, but it’s actually pretty cool,” said Billen, composer and founding partner of Primary Color Music, detailing the experience of guests who step foot inside…
Innovators can’t do it alone; C3KC conference calls for cross-sector attack on wealth gap, KC’s biggest pain points
Editor’s note: Startland News is a media sponsor for the Junior League of Kansas City’s C3KC conference. Click here for tickets to the event, which features a keynote address by best-selling author Adam Grant. Challenges abound in Kansas City, Kimberlee Ried acknowledged, but opportunities for innovation to push change are even more plentiful. An in-person conference…