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Nehemiah Becomes Landlord to
Help Other Nonprofits Facing Displacement By SHEILA MUTO A nonprofit that operates one of the country's largest privately funded down-payment assistance programs for home buyers is branching out into commercial real estate. Nehemiah Corp. is expected to announce next week a pilot program aimed at helping nonprofit social-services organizations renting their properties to stay in them despite escalating real-estate prices. The Sacramento, Calif., nonprofit has set up a trust that will buy or assist with the purchase of properties rented by other nonprofit social-service providers. The trust is especially targeting organizations facing displacement and those with a housing component, such as a battered-women's shelter. The Nehemiah Urban Land Trust is committing a modest $1 million in its first year to help nonprofits in four cities: Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, N.C., and Indianapolis. After the first year, "we expect to redouble that commitment," says Scott Syphax, Nehemiah's president and chief executive. Borrowing a page from land-preservation groups that purchase land to take it off the market and maintain it as open space, Nehemiah is "taking that idea and applying it to urban assets that serve a social function in the community," Mr. Syphax says. "This is a way of addressing the unintended consequences of the urban revitalization efforts that Nehemiah and others participate in throughout the country." Since it began in late 1995, Nehemiah, named after a Biblical figure believed to have helped rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, has given about $278 million in down-payment assistance to nearly 82,000 families who have purchased more than $8 billion in residential real estate nationwide. The idea for the Nehemiah trust came a few months ago when the owner of a Sacramento property, which housed a transitional-living facility for the mentally ill, put the building up for sale. Nehemiah purchased the 3,400-square-foot property for $350,000. "We didn't have the money to buy it ourselves and we didn't know what would happen when a new owner took over," says Paul Powell, associate director of Transitional Living & Community Support Inc., which operates the facility and pays $3,300 a month to rent the property. "We may have a better contact for our on-site property management needs and may be able to renegotiate a lower rent and get help with other properties" under Nehemiah, he adds. Nehemiah's program "would really free up nonprofits to provide program services" since occupancy costs are the next highest expense after salaries and benefits, says Nancy Hall, director of finance for the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations in Baltimore. |
