Navigate Affordable Housing Partners
Navigate Affordable Housing Partners, Inc. (formerly Jefferson County Assisted Housing Corporation or JCAHC) is a non-profit residential management corporation formed as a division of the Jefferson County Housing Authority. The corporation's CEO is Eric Strong, and its offices are located in the Jemison Flats building at 1827 1st Avenue North.
It was incorporated on February 13, 1980 in order to pursue funding under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developments "Section 8 New Construction Program". As originally constituted, the JCAHC was governed by a self-appointed board, subject to the Housing Authority's approval of new appointees and annual budgets.
Through that program, the JCAHC began construction of the Spring Gardens apartment complex for the elderly and disabled in northern Tarrant. The first 100 units, known as Spring Gardens I, were completed in 1982. An additional 144 units were later added with block grant funding, managed by the JCAHC. By 2011 the agency derived 99.9% of its revenues from Section 8 contract management.
Later, the JCAHC qualified as a Participating Administrative Entity (PAE) for HUD's Office of Multi-Family Housing Assistance Restructuring with jurisdiction over the entire State of Alabama. It claims to have helped preserve 2,500 affordable housing units in the state through that association.
The corporation changed its name to Navigate Affordable Housing Partners and partnered with the Jefferson County Housing Authority in a joint venture to provide Section 8 contract administration services for about 60,000 units in Alabama, Mississippi, Connecticut and Virginia. The agency currently employs 55 people in Birmingham; Richmond, Virginia; Jackson, Mississippi; and Hartford, Connecticut and has an annual budget of $450 million.