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Housing With Heart
For more than 20 years, the mission at Kenai Peninsula Housing Initiatives, Inc. has had residents at its heart. Through partnerships, the organization has worked to develop and operate affordable housing properties that serve Alaskans across the Kenai Peninsula.
Executive Director Brandy McGee and Finance Director Dana Gregoire have both served at KPHI for more than a decade and said they have watched their community’s needs change significantly over the years.
“It used to be really easy to find permanent rental housing and now we’re in a housing crisis,” Brandy said. “Housing is a basic human right and has always been important, but its scarcity has increased tremendously.”
To try to meet this need, KPHI develops and manages affordable housing properties for low-income families, seniors, and Alaskans with disabilities across five communities: Homer, Kenai, Ninilchik, Seward and Soldotna. With more than 300 individuals in their client base and waitlists in all communities, KPHI is hard at work rising to meet steep housing needs.
Serving Their Community
As a small organization, Brandy and Dana say that they get to be involved in all stages of a project, from the funding and development process to working with the maintenance team to make sure the properties are suitable for the people they serve and getting to welcome people home and give them their keys on move-in day. Brandy said each project has residents at its heart and at KPHI, they keep a corkboard of thank you notes in the center of the workspace. “This is the core of all the financial pieces,” she said. “That’s the beauty of a nonprofit, you’re doing it with your heart.”
Over her years with KPHI, Brandy says she has seen numerous success stories that make her job meaningful – being able to provide beautiful, safe, accessible apartments and a heated garage to seniors, for example.
“Keeping seniors in the town they choose to live in is an important service to our community,” she said.
Additionally, Brandy, Dana and the KPHI team have played a key role in helping single mothers move their families out of shelters and into their own homes, helping clients on their journey from supportive housing into independent housing and helping young Alaskans get their start by leasing apartments to individuals with no previous rental history.
“It can be hard for people to get started with no rental history,” Dana said. “It’s rewarding to see people start in our rental units with vouchers, stay for a few years as they save up money and eventually buy their own homes.”
Because these individual stories and experiences are at the heart of what they do, KPHI employees are involved with their tenants, helping them fill out their rental applications, connecting them with other services and making sure they know about community resources they may be eligible for.
“Some of our clients aren’t having their best day,” Brandy said. “But we treat them with respect and dignity and hope that we can help them on their path.”
Working Toward a Shared GOAL
KPHI has turned to the AHFC Greater Opportunities for Affordable Living program as one funding source for developing new housing.
The GOAL program provides grants, federal tax credits and zero-interest federal loans to developers and project sponsors who build affordable rental housing for low- to moderate-income families and seniors. GOAL competitive funding rounds are administered annually.
“The GOAL program has been the primary financing source for all of our developments…it has allowed our small organization to have a stake in the development game and has provided us with a consistent funding opportunity year after year. The funds are very competitive, but access to that opportunity has been paramount to our organization.”
- Dana Gregoire, KPHI finance director
As of summer 2024, KPHI had been awarded a total of $24 million in competitive GOAL funding.
A Network of Partnerships
Access to GOAL funds has been essential to the organization’s success but it isn’t the extent of KPHI’s partnership with AHFC. When renting out units, KPHI accepts housing vouchers and gives waitlist priority to voucher holders. The organization also works closely with AHFC’s mortgage department, combining term mortgage loans with GOAL grants to fund developments, and also partners with the audit department to ensure AHFC-funded programs comply with requirements.
“We have a great relationship with the audit department,” Brandy said. “We’re both trying to serve the programs the best we can, so if we have a question, we feel comfortable calling them to try to find a solution. That makes our jobs much easier!”
In addition to working with AHFC, KPHI has relied on local communities as key to the organization’s success. KPHI’s first project was built on a lot donated by the city of Homer, the city of Kenai has donated four lots, including the site of a six-unit senior housing property currently in development, and the city of Seward has also donated a lot.
“Communities have been very generous and supportive,” Brandy said.
Statewide-Perspective
Through strong partnerships and a motivation to serve their community, KPHI has successfully provided safe housing for more than 300 Alaskans. Brandy said they hope the strength of their partnerships continues to grow allowing them to serve more residents of the Kenai Peninsula. At the same time, they keep a statewide perspective.
“We understand that GOAL funding rounds are very competitive, we also understand the need for housing across the state,” Brandy said. “So when other projects are awarded and we don’t get the funds, we are thankful that housing is going to those communities through other organizations that do the same work we do.”