No one can imagine staying without a house. It’s like staying without a protective shelter. But if you take a look into the housing situation in the United States, you will find homeless people and people shifting to low-quality homes in remote areas, quitting their job in the city. It affects the entire economy, and the pandemic has aggravated this situation says Maxwell Drever. Hence, the need of the hour is generating more affordable workforce housing.
The case with Madison City
Here Maxwell Drever shares the example of Madison city. The city currently is involved in a novel effort to maximize the options for affordable workforce housing. The city is actively engaged in a program that aims to buy certain hotels and convert the same into housing units for homeless people and those who belong to the low-income group.
According to current news reports, the city is all set to make use of $2.5 million allocated for a specific hotel conversion project, sanctioned by the American Rescue Plan Act funds, that it got at the time of the pandemic. The city is also expecting an extra of $5 million from the federal HUD (Housing and Urban Development) department. Currently, the city is waiting for specific guidelines about how to use the HUD funds. Once the funds get issued, the city has plans to keep going with its hotel buying process and carry on the objective of transforming the same into low-cost housing units.
The process of the hotel conversion
Simply put, it means converting a hotel or a similar property into an accommodation unit. Hence, it is necessary for the hotel to completely let go of its past essence and look. And get converted into a low-cost housing unit. That will get use by people who prefer the basic necessities of life than lavishness. And this conversion process is a challenging one. Here’s what the method includes:
- Property evaluation for the conversion–When a hotel owner is all set to convert his hotel space into a low-cost housing unit, he needs to provide facilities like a kitchen, bathroom, a community hall, bedrooms, and the like. Hence, it’s essential to opt-in for a property evaluation. To ensure whether the space can provide all that the low-income families need after conversion.
- Get the required approvals –Several individuals have invested in a hotel. Also, a hotel also needs to adhere to certain local area codes. Hence, it’s crucial to take all the required approvals to avoid disturbance during the conversion process.
- Get expert architects on board – Maxwell Drever says only an expert architect can transform. A lavish-looking hotel into a functional low-cost housing unit. That takes care of the basic needs of its users. It means that the property should cease looking like it was once a hotel. And assume the character of affordable accommodation for the workforce. Only then can the project be called a successful one.
Converting a broken or distressed hotel or property into affordable workforce housing is challenging. But when you have the proper guidelines and the required funds. The process becomes seamless and gets complete within the estimating time.