Case Study: Promise Place - 85 Families, One Promise

We named it Promise Place because that is what it is. A promise to 85 Kansas City families that quality, dignified housing is possible at an income level where the market has abandoned them. A promise that 30 to 60 percent of Area Median Income does not mean 30 to 60 percent of the dignity that everyone else gets. A promise that the zip code you live in does not determine the quality of life you deserve.

At The Nash Group, we develop 100% affordable housing. Every unit we build serves families who cannot find quality housing at market rate. Promise Place is the latest expression of that commitment, and it represents something specific about how we approach development: the conviction that city resources and federal credits, deployed together with discipline and creativity, can deliver housing that families are proud to call home.

Promise Place is a 4% federal LIHTC deal backed by significant city resources. That structure is worth examining because it represents an increasingly important model for affordable housing development.

The 4% credit, paired with tax exempt bonds, provides the foundation of investor equity. But at approximately 30% of eligible basis, the 4% credit generates less equity than the 9% credit. That gap has to be filled. For Promise Place, the city of Kansas City committed significant resources to the project, creating the financial foundation that makes an 85 unit deal viable at the 4% level without the state match.

This is not a financing structure that happens by default. It requires a municipality that is genuinely committed to affordable housing and willing to put resources behind that commitment. It requires a developer who understands how to assemble a capital stack from multiple sources and who has the relationships to bring those sources to the table. And it requires the patience and persistence to navigate a process that is more complex than a straightforward 9% competitive application.

As Vice Chairman of the Missouri Housing Development Commission from 2009 to 2017, I saw every kind of financing structure. I learned that the deals that work are the ones where the developer has done the hard work of building partnerships before the application is submitted. Promise Place is built on that principle.

When a city invests in an affordable housing project, it does more than fill a financing gap. It sends a signal. It tells investors that the project has political support. It tells the community that the city is committed to the neighborhood. It tells other financing partners that the project is real, that it has momentum, and that the public sector is invested in its success.

City resources can take many forms: land contributions, direct financial commitments, tax increment financing, HOME funds, CDBG allocations, or local housing trust fund dollars. The specific form matters less than the commitment. What matters is that the city has decided that this project is a priority and is willing to back that decision with resources.

Promise Place exists because Kansas City made that decision. Other cities that are serious about affordable housing should study this model, because the need for 4% deals with municipal support is only going to grow as the demand for affordable housing continues to outpace the supply of competitive 9% credits.

The families who will live at Promise Place earn between 30 and 60 percent of Area Median Income. At those income levels, the private market does not build housing. The rents that a private developer needs to charge to make a market rate deal work are rents that these families simply cannot afford. Without LIHTC and without city resources, these families have limited options: overcrowded apartments, substandard housing, or cost burden that consumes more than half of their income and leaves nothing for food, health care, transportation, or education.

That is the reality that Promise Place addresses. Eighty five units of quality housing at rents that families at 30 to 60 percent AMI can actually afford. Not housing that is affordable in name only, but housing that gives families room to breathe, room to save, and room to build the stability that everything else depends on.

Promise Place reflects the development philosophy that guides every Nash Group project. We believe that affordable housing is an essential social determinant of health. We believe that where you live shapes who you become. We believe that the families we serve deserve the same quality of design, construction, and community planning that market rate residents expect.

I grew up in Section 8 public housing in Kansas City. My mother raised six children by herself, on welfare, without a father in the home. We bounced between public housing projects including Holy Temple Homes and Friendship Village Apartments. I know what it feels like to live in housing that was built to a lower standard because the residents were deemed less worthy of quality. Promise Place is built on the opposite premise: that every family, regardless of income, deserves a home they can be proud of.

Promise Place is part of a portfolio that includes The Mabion, a $19.3 million development bringing 57 homes to Beacon Hill in Kansas City, and the Ville Wellness Campus, a $75 million project integrating 120 affordable housing units with a 45,000 square foot health center in North St. Louis. Together, The Nash Group is building 254 or more affordable housing units across Kansas City and St. Louis with over $100 million in total development costs.

Each project in the portfolio addresses a different market, a different financing structure, and a different community need. But they share a common thread: 100% affordable housing, serving families at 30 to 60 percent AMI, developed by a team that brings lived experience, public sector knowledge, and private sector discipline to every deal.

The name says it all. Promise Place is a promise. A promise that 85 families in Kansas City will have quality housing they can afford. A promise that the city's investment in affordable housing will produce tangible, measurable results. A promise that the gap between what the federal credit provides and what families need can be bridged when municipalities and developers work together with shared purpose.

Where you start out in life has nothing to do with where you end up. That is what I believe. That is what I teach my students at UMKC. That is what I tell my daughter Arielle, who serves as President and Co-Founder of The Nash Group. And that is what Promise Place is designed to prove, one family at a time.

Dr. Troy Nash is CEO and Co-Founder of The Nash Group, LLC. The Nash Group develops 100% affordable housing serving families at 30-60% of Area Median Income across Kansas City and St. Louis.