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A Newsletter for Local Partners
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The fACTs newsletter is for TSAHC's local partners in the Affordable Communities of Texas (ACT) program that provides information to help make your organizations successful.
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ACT Spotlight:
Housing Channel and Donna VanNess
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In this newsletter, we are spotlighting
Housing Channel and their President, Donna VanNess.
 About Housing Channel
Based in Fort Worth, Housing Channel (formerly Tarrant County Housing Partnership) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that helps low- and moderate-income families build wealth through homeownership. In the process, they educate and empower homeowners to lift neighborhoods and strengthen communities.
In addition to offering down payment assistance to home buyers, the organization offers classes and counseling on homeownership, credit repair, transitioning from rental to homeownership, and foreclosure prevention.
The nonprofit also manages several affordable apartment communities, develops multifamily and single-family housing, and buys and sells homes. And their
Hard Hats for Heroes program assists low-income veterans with critical home repairs. As you can tell, the organization is very active in almost every aspect of housing.
Spotlight Interview with Donna VanNess
Leading the Housing Channel team is President Donna VanNess, and we recently published an interview we conducted with her in our
On the House blog. We've included a couple of highlights below, and you can read the complete interview
here.
Tell us about the work you do as President.
My role as president is to lead the agency to meet the needs of our community while responding to changing market demands. We have to be flexible and innovative and always put our clients first. My primary responsibilities are fundraising, program development, relationship building, and financial management.
Who is your professional role model, and why?
I have many role models, but what inspires me most are people who have overcome challenges and obstacles, and have still come out happy, compassionate towards others, and hopeful for the future.
TSAHC's Partnership with Housing Channel on Riverside Homes
We partnered with Housing Channel through our
Affordable Communities of Texas (ACT) program on their Riverside Homes project. In 2010, we acquired foreclosed lots from the City of Fort Worth and added them into our ACT land bank.
We recently sold five of the lots to Housing Channel so they can build homes that will be sold to households at or below 80% Area Median Income. Located in the northeast Fort Worth neighborhood of Riverside, the 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom homes will average 1,500 square feet in size.
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What You May Have Missed from
On the House
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National 'Out of Reach' Report Details Continued Rent Increases in Texas
The most recent numbers for Texas are alarming. According to the 2019 report, the fair market rent (FMR) for a two-bedroom apartment in Texas is now $1,055. This is 5% higher than the FMR in 2018 ($1,005) and 10% higher than the FMR in 2017 ($956).
 Texas' Rural Rental Affordability Problem (and What We're Doing to Address It)
Last month, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas (
Dallas Fed) released a
report detailing the looming affordability problem in Texas' rural affordable housing communities.
As stated in the report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Rural Development (USDA RD) Section 515 program is one of the major federal programs aimed at subsidizing rental housing for low-income, elderly, and disabled residents in rural communities.
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Featured Vacant Lot for Sale in Greenville
We have many
properties in our ACT portfolio, and we need your help developing them, purchasing them or helping us find a potential buyer.
Among them is a
vacant lot we're featuring in Greenville, Texas (2715 Sayle Street). The .13 acre lot is offered at $15,000.
We encourage you to share this info
and help us find a buyer.
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ACT Program Contact Information
Dave Danenfelzer
Senior Director
Development Finance
Cassandra Ramirez
Specialist
Development Finance
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