Alachua County agrees to pay almost $3 million to Ability Housing, $1.8 million of which will go toward purchasing two lots

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – On Tuesday, May 9, the Alachua County Commission will vote on whether to accept a settlement agreement with Ability Housing that follows through on Commissioner Ken Cornell’s promise to “make them whole” after the board voted to withdraw their approval of $230,000 in local matching funds for the project.

History of the project

The Dogwood Village project was approved by the County Commission in September 2020 on a consent agenda, and the State Housing Finance Authority (HFA) approved a loan award of $460,000 in August 2021. The County Commission voted in September to provide $230,000 to the HFA as a local match toward the project costs of about $25 million. The project was intended for families under 60% of adjusted median income, also known as “workforce housing.” The bulk of the funding for the project came from the Florida Housing Finance Corporation (FHFC) through housing tax credit funds. 

At the September meeting, the commission voted unanimously to approve the funds but also voted to send a letter asking that the project be relocated to a different property in Alachua County. Cornell put the project on the December 13 agenda because he wanted to reconsider that vote and Ability Housing had given the board a deadline of December 14 to make any changes.

On December 13, the board voted 3-2, with Commission Chair Anna Prizzia and Commissioner Mary Alford in dissent, to withdraw the funds. Ability Housing sent an email to Prizzia on December 29, stating that FHFC would not permit the relocation of the Dogwood Village development and would not grant any extensions. Ability Housing said they would need to return the award before January 27, leading to the loss of the project, unless the board reversed its decision. Ability Housing said in the letter that if the board did not reverse course, the company would have “no choice but to return the award and seek damages from the County for its decision to breach its commitment”; those damages were estimated at $15 million. The board voted 3-2 on January 10 to affirm their earlier decision to withdraw the local match funding. The motion from Cornell that eventually passed was to direct staff to negotiate with Ability Housing to purchase the two parcels because, Cornell said, “then we and the City can control what gets programmed there.”

At the December 13 Alachua County Commission meeting, Cornell said that he believed Ability Housing had spent $2.3 million and that he wanted to “[make] them whole. I don’t want Ability Housing to not be made whole at all. In fact, if they will work with us, I want to work with them on future projects.”

Settlement agreement

The agreement that will be considered is for the purpose of “resolving any and all filed or unfiled claims” related to the Dogwood Village projects and states that within two days after the contract is signed, the County will purchase the two parcels for $1.8 million ($1,152,000 for the northern parcel and $648,000 for the southern parcel). The two parcels are on SE 15th Street, to the west and south of the Heartwood project.

At the closing for the property, the County will give the closing agent $2,964,730.60, which includes the $1.8 million for the property. Anything left over after the expenses of the purchase will be turned over to Ability Housing.

The agreement further obligates Ability Housing and the County to “use good faith efforts to identify and work together on an affordable housing project in Alachua County, Florida, and to identify and work collaboratively to secure capital for development of the project.”

The vote on the settlement agreement will be taken during the County Commission’s 11:30 a.m. meeting on May 9.