logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Free Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

A CDC Struggles amid Recession

Rick Cohen
May 25, 2010
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

May 23, 2010; Santa Maria Times

The complexity of nonprofit community development is portrayed in this article about the Lompoc Housing and Community Development Corporation (LHCDC) in Lompox, California.  The CDC owns 150 affordable rental units and runs two homeless shelters, but the economy has meant that it has had to delay or drop some development plans.

Delayed is the planned renovation of the historic Lompoc Theater. Abandoned is the plan to create an affordable housing complex for men and women released from Casa de Dasarrollo, the foster child system in the county.  The CDC may be behind on some loan repayments and is out of compliance on some paperwork with other loans from the City.

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Some ascribe the CDC’s problems to bad management, including some staff and board turnover, but other problems include reductions in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding, banks increasingly reluctant to provide financing, and a downturn in the housing market reducing the potential collateral value of the CDC’s properties.

Maybe there’s more to the LHCDC story in terms of managerial problems, implied in part by the executive director’s referring all questions to the organization’s real estate development consultant and the failure to keep up with the City’s reporting requirements on various loans.  But we would bet that, given the time required for predevelopment work, some of the CDC’s slow or stopped projects were conceived long before the recession hit full force and undermined by changing market, financing, and grant dynamics.—Rick Cohen

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rick Cohen

Rick joined NPQ in 2006, after almost eight years as the executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Before that he played various roles as a community worker and advisor to others doing community work. He also worked in government. Cohen pursued investigative and analytical articles, advocated for increased philanthropic giving and access for disenfranchised constituencies, and promoted increased philanthropic and nonprofit accountability.

More about: affordable housingNonprofit News

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

You might also like
Narrowing the Racial Homeownership Gap: A New Strategy for Low-Cost Cities
Dr. Akilah Watkins
The Transformative Potential of Community Land Trusts
Peter Sabonis
Reconceiving the Federal Role in Housing Policy
Krystle Okafor
Engaging Churches in the Struggle for Housing Justice
Bernie Mazyck
Coalition Seeks New Zoning Rules to Support Housing Affordability—and Integration
Martin Levine
LISC at 40: Coming to Terms with the Limits of Markets
Steve Dubb

NPQ_Summer_2022

Upcoming Webinars

July 14th, 2 pm ET

Combating Disinformation and Misinformation in 21st-Century Social Movements

Register Now
Group Created with Sketch.
July 28th, 2 pm ET

Changing the Subject

Boards As Social Movement Spaces

Register Now
You might also like
Narrowing the Racial Homeownership Gap: A New Strategy for...
Dr. Akilah Watkins
The Transformative Potential of Community Land Trusts
Peter Sabonis
AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while...
Anastasia Reesa Tomkin

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.