Year after Floyd death, developer of color plans affordable housing
[Originally Published On Finance & Commerce, Written By Brian Johnson: View Source]
As the world observes the one-year anniversary this week of the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, local affordable housing developer Johnny Opara is experiencing a range of emotions.
The Nigerian-born founder of JO Companies got some good news Monday when St. Paul-based LISC Twin Cities selected him as one of 12 participants in a new initiative that offers financial and technical assistance to developers of color.
But like many others in the Twin Cities and beyond, Opara is still feeling the aftershocks of Floyd’s death, which has raised awareness of systemic racism, triggering a worldwide movement calling for change.
“I am still at a loss for words,” said Opara, who got into real estate development about three years ago after 17 years of sales and leadership roles in the corporate world. “The Bible says, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ And we’ve seen so much violence … shootings everywhere.
“Specifically, on our dear brother George Floyd, as a developer of color and a Black man, it is very challenging to be able to take on projects and at the same time deal with everything else that has come with being a person of color, a Black man.”
Opara is facing those challenges with help from LISC’s Developers of Color Building Initiative, which aims to help developers of color get over the hump with their projects. One of LISC’s goals is to “build assets and ownership in historically low-income neighborhoods.”
Peter McLaughlin, executive director of LISC Twin Cities, said the initiative will “further the effort toward transformational change to disrupt systemic racism and drive more social capital and ownership in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.”
Opara hopes to do his part with two proposed housing projects in the Twin Cities. The projects, one each in St. Paul and Brooklyn Center, would offer a combined 108 units of workforce housing.
Developer Johnny Opara hopes to break ground this fall on this proposed 54-unit affordable housing project at 520 Payne Ave. in St. Paul.
The St. Paul project, a 54-unit development at 520 Payne Ave., has been in the works for more than two years. Opara hopes to close on financing this fall and break ground soon thereafter.
JO Companies is proposing a similar project in Brooklyn Center, where Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, died in April after an officer-involved shooting. The project site is at 61st Avenue and Brooklyn Boulevard.
While the Brooklyn Center project goes through the city approval process, Opara said he’s taking care to be sensitive to the greater needs of the community as it deals with the shock of the recent shooting.
In 2018, Opara told Finance & Commerce that he was motivated to build high-quality affordable housing by his recently deceased father. The elder Opara had limited income and was forced to live in some older buildings that “I was not a fan of,” Opara said at the time.
But moving such projects from concept to construction isn’t easy, especially at a time when builders and developers are dealing with supply chain disruptions, the rising cost of building materials and other headwinds.
“As you know, right now many developers locally and nationwide are facing challenges with the cost of lumber, steel, etc.,” Opara said Tuesday. “Those are challenges that we’re trying to navigate and put together creative solutions to be able to get to the finish line.”
Opara said he’s grateful for the support from LISC Twin Cities. The organization says it has deployed “more than $600 million in grants and loans” to underserved communities in the last 30 years.”
“They really, truly have put their money where their mouth is … to say, ‘Hey, what can I do to support you, Johnny?’” he said. “So many people have really stepped up to help me get to where I’m at today, and I really commend them.”