The Lake Charles Housing Authority announced in a news release a couple weeks ago that it would build two public housing areas this year as part of “a large scale, multi-year initiative to replace aging and deteriorating public housing” in the city.

The developments — one on Old U.S. 171, the other on Cline Street — will comprise 54 single-family housing units and two community centers and will cost $14.4 million, most of which will come from tax credit equity.

Both developments “will offer two, three and four bedroom units with energy efficient appliances and lighting,” and each unit will have a dishwasher and laundry appliances, along with ceramic tile, according to the news release.

After the newspaper reported the announcement Feb. 24, two American Press readers emailed The Informer to remark on the cost.

“If your numbers are correct, that computes to an average cost of $266,666 per house or an average of $266.66 per square foot on a 1,000-square-foot home,” one reader wrote.

The other reader shared the same calculations and asked: “What are ‘tax equity credits,’ and what entity will receive these tax credits?”

‘The best way’

Housing authority director Ben Taylor said the agency will cover about a fourth of the developments’ cost using U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funding. The money, $3.78 million, was given to the housing authority after Hurricane Rita, he said.

The $10.6 million in remaining costs were put up by Capital One, which bought tax credits from the housing authority’s affiliate, the Lake Charles Non-Profit Housing Development Corp., Taylor said.

The credits, awarded to the affiliate by the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency, will provide the bank with a dollar-for-dollar reduction in its tax liability over 15 years, he said. The LHFA received the credits from the Internal Revenue Service.

The housing authority used tax credits just after Rita to do work on 123 units scattered over five sites, and it’s been awarded credits to do work on Booker T. Washington Courts, a development that dates from 1940, Taylor said.

The agency will demolish the 72 units there and replace them with up to 50 new ones, he said. When the housing authority is done revamping its properties, it will have an additional 28 units, Taylor said.

He told the American Press in February that tax credits are “certainly the best way” to fund public housing work. He reiterated that Thursday, telling The Informer: “It’s about the only way to get this done unless you start issuing bonds.”

‘No debt’

Each unit in the recently announced developments, known as Bayou Bluff and Kingsley Court, will average 1,400 square feet, Taylor said.

Construction accounts for only part of the cost, which includes preliminary outlays such as preparation work and design, he said.

“To comply with city building codes and because the two tracts were undeveloped land, the housing authority had to put in sanitary and storm sewers, as well as two dedicated city streets, which had to comply with zoning and building codes so we could access city services,” Taylor wrote in an email.

“There were application, environmental, geotechnical, legal, architectural, engineering and developers’ fees.”

He said the housing authority’s affiliate had to put up some money during the closing process, but that the money will be refunded “as certain construction, leasing, inspection and tax credit compliance goals are met.”

“There’s no debt on this project,” he said Thursday.

Online: www.hud.gov.

The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by Andrew Perzo, an American Press staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098, press 5 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com

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