Malden resident pursues affordable housing initiative

*Editor’s note: This is the final installment of a two-part story regarding a Malden resident’s desire to provide the city with affordable housing. The first installment appeared in Saturday’s edition.

MALDEN - A lifetime resident is intent on adding affordable homes to her Northside community.

Nollie Smith-Burnett, 54, raised in Ward 1, applied for a USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Forest grant in her efforts to achieve her goal.

Determined to make a difference, Smith-Burnett left the US Army after a lifetime of service and returned to live at Malden, where she began a new career in property management and real estate.

“Our community started to deteriorate and has been deteriorating ever since.”

Intent on making a difference, Smith-Burnett left the service and returned to live at Malden where she began a new career in property management and real estate.

“I have never seen a greater need for affordable housing here,” Smith-Burnett said. “I moved back to Malden in 2014.

“I started North End Property Management and Development in 2018,” she added. “After I saw what my community looked like I thought maybe some of the landlords grew tired of taking care of their properties. I thought maybe I could collect rents for them and take care of their properties while they just sit at home. So many of our parents and grandparents passed away and left us their homes, but we lived away from Malden. I thought there might be opportunities to serve those people who owned homes here, but lived far away, maybe I could manage those properties.” And simultaneously, the development side of North End sought to build affordable homes, she explained.

“By taking out construction loans, conventional loans or whatever,” she said. “But there were people smarter than me looking out for me and would not extend any type of loans toward that.

“Looking back now it would have put me in a really bad spot financially,” she added. “So I kind of shut down because I didn’t have the funding I needed.”

She took classes and learned the ins-and-outs of tax preparation, passed more exams and became a real estate agent and added her knowledge to her business model.

“North End Housing Counseling Agency (NEHCA) is a 501c3 tax-exempt organization,” she explained. “I established it when a client came in needing Section 8 and HUD information.

“I called Kennett and asked about the Section 8 housing program,” she continued. “I was told the man who handled that had passed away and nobody else had taken that position. I called around the state trying to find HUD housing counselors.”

But that investigation resulted in goose eggs for the area. “There are no housing counselors between Kennett and Saint Charles, Missouri,” she noted. “That leaves us in an underserved region.

“So I set out to be a HUD housing counselor,” she added. “I took the test. I needed to score a 500. I scored 456. I thought that was good for the first time out. That’s 91 percent. So I’ll take the test again really soon.”

And those hurdles that stood in her way just encouraged her to try harder, she explained. She embarked on another challenge by writing her first and so far, only, grant in an effort to fund her dream of providing Ward 1 residents with affordable housing.

“The grant is part of the Inflation Reduction Act,” she said. “The USDA had more than $1Bn this year to disperse.

“I had no idea how to write a grant,” she admitted. “I just looked at what they expected of me and how they wanted the grant to be written. Then I did my research and included my desires and vision. I completed the budget and project narratives. Apparently that was good enough because the grant applications closed June 1. It’s now August 26 and I’ve received no response, which tells me I haven’t been rejected.”

Those funds are scheduled for release September 30, she noted.

“I’m nervous and anxious,” she said “I want to call, but I don’t want to jinx it.

“Once that grant comes in it’ll open a lot of doors for me.”

She approached the Malden City Council with her plans in hopes of garnering the panel’s blessings and requested a bit of help to see her dreams come to fruition.

Of course, a large part of those dreams depends financially on Smith-Burnett receiving the USDA grant.

“I have a proposal right now before the Malden City Council to release the liens on some of these properties,” she said. “I’ll pay the taxes.

“But release the liens,” she added. “I’ll buy the properties, have them re-surveyed and put affordable homes there. I’ve requested this from the city for nearly two years. Mayor Kooyman asked how much time I have and I told him October 1. Hopefully they’ll have an answer on September 18 at the next council meeting.”

Hopefully, the council will agree with Smith-Burnett’s proposal, she said.

Hopefully, the USDA grant she sought comes through.

Hopefully, Smith-Burnett’s dream of cleaning Ward 1 of its many vacant, overgrown lots and dilapidated, uninhabited homes are realized.

With plans for a new Boys and Girls Club of the Heartland opening in town and providing young people with a place to gather safely; with upgrades to Frisco Park including a new walking trail and splash pad; with a new high school track and upgraded football field; Malden seems poised for a renaissance, she noted.

Hopefully, Smith-Burnett’s Malden, as well as many lifelong-residents’ Malden, continues on a positive path.