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Denver Partnership Yields Good Business and Enriched Service |
| A partnership between the nonprofit Atlantis Community, Inc., and Colorado lenders—particularly Norwest Bank (now Wells Fargo) and Colorado National Bank (CNB, now US Bank)—has improved the living situations of many people with disabilities in Denver and helped the banks develop a solid business niche. The relationship began in the early 1990s when CNB helped Atlantis acquire office space and a learning center and Norwest agreed to provide financing support for Atlantis’ home mortgage program for Denver residents with disabilities. Atlantis and Norwest also collaborated to increase the supply of affordable, accessible rental units in the city—and throughout Colorado—and to provide a variety of loans to people with disabilities. Before Atlantis and the banks began working together, wheelchair-accessible apartments in Denver were scarce, and qualifying for a mortgage was out of the question for many people with disabilities. Atlantis, through its partnerships with the banks and by tapping a variety of other funding sources, has grown from its home health agency beginnings to become a multiservice organization and an effective advocate for the disabled community. Not limiting itself to conventional fundraising, Atlantis considers many different funding sources while it pushes for nontraditional relationships with lenders. Denver’s disabled population faces an even sharper scarcity of affordable housing than the rest of the city. People with disabilities need to spend a greater-than-average portion of their often limited and fixed incomes on health-related expenses. Accessibility requirements may add to housing costs (approximately 80 percent of income typically goes toward housing) and limit their choices. Homeownership was rarely an option because lenders have traditionally considered disability compensation an unreliable income source for mortgage qualification purposes. Developing accessible rentals. Atlantis Community, Inc. began in the mid-1970s as a home health agency. The organization’s leadership soon realized, however, that the people with disabilities they served needed a much wider array of services and advocacy. Atlantis advocated mainstreaming people with disabilities into the greater community and a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation helped the organization put this philosophy into practice. Atlantis found suitable properties to develop into affordable, accessible, service-enriched housing for their constituents. Atlantis acquired and renovated the 34-unit New Heritage facility as a mixed-income, mixed-population rental property with eight accessible units, tapping resources from the Resolution Trust Corporation and the Colorado Housing Finance Authority. Atlantis later acquired and renovated the 20-unit Harbert House property. Vikki Gold, an advocate for the disabled community, fostered Atlantis’ success in developing its rental complexes. She used her expertise in acquiring real estate to train Atlantis staff. “Finding housing space has been a constant struggle because of Denver’s high real estate costs,” she states. Her advice: “Either know what you’re doing, or go to someone who does.” Banks provide home mortgages. In 1992 Atlantis began negotiating with Norwest Bank to establish the Disabled Community Home Ownership Program (DCHOP). Norwest, responding to the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Community Reinvestment Act, began providing mortgages and other loans to people with disabilities, crediting them for their limited but steady sources of income. CNB soon began a DCHOP program of its own. Atlantis director Mike Auberger was instrumental in convincing the banks to take this step, but the financial institutions themselves soon became enthusiastic about the arrangement. “It is really gratifying to see people with disabilities get home loans,” states Kim Johnson of Norwest Bank. “When we started, Norwest was the only lender doing this. But what was once considered a risky financial process is now commonplace.” Norwest Bank and other lenders have found that Atlantis constituents represent a niche market of solid mortgage customers with steady payment histories and lower-than-average foreclosure rates. Since 1993 DCHOP has made more than 1,100 loans with a total value exceeding $75 million. As a result of Atlantis’ advocacy, Norwest Bank agreed to lower its teller windows and modify its workstations so that people in wheelchairs could more easily do their banking. Norwest also established a lending program for the purchase of medical and technological aids geared toward the specialized needs of people with disabilities. Norwest financial advisors help Atlantis’ constituents with their personal finances. Expanding the service umbrella. Atlantis’ activities grew to include facilities such as the Mark D. Ball Learning Center, which offers adult education, recreation, daily social activities, and a wheelchair repair shop. The learning center, along with Atlantis’ office spaces, is part of a 5-acre site that Atlantis acquired through favorable financing from CNB, combined with grants from several foundations and local government sources. In the late 1990s Atlantis established two transitional housing units for people moving from nursing homes to independent living. Conventional wisdom holds, Gold points out, that public and private lenders to community-based housing groups want to see community groups realize only a minimal amount of surplus income beyond the debt-service levels. (The standard is a 1.1 debt-coverage-to-income ratio.) “Nonprofits can and should seek financing against this conventional wisdom,” Gold advises. Auberger and Gold succeeded in recouping a larger proportion of income on their rentals by making it clear that Atlantis planned to use any surplus income from its rental properties for resident services, not for salaries or overhead. Atlantis’ services include medical assistance, in-home attendant services, and transportation. In response, local and state public authorities have approved funding at higher levels than might otherwise be the case. To support its programs and services, Atlantis also draws on ancillary income from laundry, vending, and parking facilities at its buildings. Atlantis staff has successfully encouraged some local apartment owners to make their buildings more accessible. To facilitate the process, Atlantis received grants from the city and county of Denver to perform the work without cost to building owners. Such efforts are frequently difficult to negotiate, Gold reports, but Atlantis continues to get results. Atlantis’ successful approach is gaining favor with other organizations. For instance, Fannie Mae replicated the DCHOP concept through its Home Choice Coalition of lenders and service providers. The Colorado Housing Finance Authority has recently made a limited amount of home loans available at 3 percent to people with disabilities. For more information, contact: Mike Auberger or Vikki Gold, Atlantis Community, Inc., P.O. Box 9598, Denver, CO 80209, (303) 733–9324; or Kim Johnson, MAC #C7300-233, 1740 Broadway, Denver, CO 80274. Or see: “Denver Case Study” in Models of Community Lending: Neighborhood Revitalization Through Community-Lender Partnerships, 1997. National Community Reinvestment Coalition, 733 15th Street, NW., Suite 540, Washington, DC 20005.
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