On October 23, 2019 Heritage Housing, Inc. acquired Barbour Gardens, a troubled and vacant affordable housing property in Hartford, CT. Heritage Housing, Inc. first evaluated Barbour Gardens, which contained 84 units of Section 8 housing, in 2018. During due diligence we became aware that there were many deficiencies with the property, including over 200 open City of Hartford violations, widespread plumbing failures, and unsanitary living conditions. In December, 2018, at the request of the residents and local community groups, HUD re-inspected the property and gave it a 9c REAC score — the lowest REAC score we have ever seen — and the property appeared frequently in local press and was toured by US Senators and other local officials.

Following these developments, HUD abated the property’s Section 8 assistance in order to relocate all residents to other housing in Hartford with Section 8 vouchers. Heritage Housing, Inc. worked with HUD, the City of Hartford, the property owner, and the property owner’s lender to arrange a short sale and partial reinstatement of Section 8 assistance in order to acquire the property. Meanwhile, HUD relocated all existing residents to other area housing.

Through all of this Heritage Housing, Inc. cancelled the purchase contract for Barbour Gardens at least four times, but kept working on solutions to the many problems involved with this acquisition. The sale went through despite the property losing its Section 8 assistance and all of its residents.

We closed on the acquisition with the help of an acquisition bridge loan from Capital For Change, a Connecticut not-for-profit CDFI. We are now preparing an application to CHFA for LIHTC financing and tax-exempt bond financing together with an application to SHPO for historic tax credits. We are also combining Barbour Gardens with four other Section 8 properties in Hartford for a portfolio renovation of 215 units in total. The new financing, which we expect to close on in 2020, will enable a substantial renovation of Barbour Gardens and moderate renovation of the other four properties.

Below are some progress photos of our efforts to clean up and secure the property. To date we have removed 12 30-yard dumpsters full of trash and debris.