KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Hispanic Economic Development Corporation (HEDC) is working with the City of Kansas City to build more affordable housing in the city's historic Westside neighborhood.
“This is exciting, exciting for us," said Pedro Zamora, HEDC's executive director. "And we have a true commitment to try to get this project completed in nine months."
Belleview Townhomes will provide quality, affordable homes for low-to-moderate income families, people with disabilities and elderly residents.
“We have an aging population and we have multi-generational families, households." Zamora said. "This project is designed to accommodate them by having ADA accessibility, zero-barrier living on one level and the family on the second level. True multi-generational."
The project's goal is to bring homes, particularly for aging and multi-generational households, in a neighborhood with rising housing costs.
One reason for the increase in housing costs is the neighborhood's easy access to downtown Kansas City.
"Within that strategy, we engaged the community in listening to them, listening to the residents, the neighborhood association leaders, the block captains about what they thought was missing in this community," Zamora said. "One of the top things that came up was owner-occupied, affordable housing."
This is HEDC’s first affordable housing development in partnership with the city.
“This project came out of a plan by then-Mayor Sly James and City Manager Troy Schulte challenged me on," Zamora said. "I had been asking them to look at strategies to help protect this community and help us with investments from the city that are impactful to sustain this neighborhood."
Families that own a home in the Sacred Heart Neighborhood also will be eligible for a program aimed at helping transfer generational wealth.
"This is going to give a homeowner who owns one of those existing homes a chance to do a home swap with us and come in into a modern home that will allow them to live without any barriers," Zamora said.
HEDC and the city plan to break ground on the Belleview Townhomes today, marking a major step toward stabilizing the Westside community.
The project is scheduled to be finished by the summer of 2025.
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