Episcopal Housing Corporation is in the business of developing housing for other nonprofit agencies? clients.
“We form partnerships with social service agencies that have housing or community facility projects, and we act as development consultants for them,” said Episcopal Housing Corporation Executive Director Dan McCarthy.
McCarthy cited local substance abuse recovery and affordable housing outreach groups as two client examples, and said his 13-year-old organization runs interference for them as they develop their outreach dream.
“They?re not real estate developers, and they really don?t know how to go about getting the money for their buildings, getting the plans and specs, hiring the contractor and then overseeing the construction,” McCarthy said of typical clients. “We provide those services for them.”
Episcopal Housing has an operating budget of $325,000 a year and a 2007 development tab of $7 million. Since its incorporation in 1995, it has developed 22 projects and currently has six under management, five in Baltimore City.
One is the Collington Square Oxford House effort, a $350,000 renovation and integration of three downtown row houses that will provide structured housing for seven male recovering substance abusers.
“I have nothing but accolades for them,” said Lena M. Franklin, executive director of Baltimore?s Recovery in Community. “They were part of a developing team for the women?s transitional house that we opened in October and initially worked with us for almost two years without any pay.”
Noting that Episcopal Housing?s projects are expanding in number, size and complexity, McCarthy said, however, that the ongoing credit crunch was adversely affecting activity. The state-awarded low-income housing tax credits that many nonprofit developers sell on the capital markets to help finance their projects are now worth about 15 percent less than a year ago.
But McCarthy remains upbeat and sees Episcopal Housing?s role as crucial to both preserving affordable housing in Baltimore and to providing temptation-reduced environments for recovering substance abusers.
“They?ve been with us every step ofthe way as we worked to renovate two row homes to permanent housing for recovering clients,” said Todd Marcus, president of Baltimore?s Newborn Holistic Ministries. “They did an excellent job raising the money and seeing the projects through to completion.”
