Union Group Proposes Pension Investment for KC Affordable Housing Projects

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI — A union organization is proposing to use pension fund investments to finance affordable housing projects in Kansas City while providing workforce development opportunities for local residents.

Cameron Seip, executive director of Mo-Kan LECET — the Western Missouri and Kansas Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust — has been working for the past two years to connect union pension investors with Kansas City developers and housing agencies.

“The thing I want to focus on — that I feel we can bring opportunity to — is to create the affordable housing that the city keeps talking about,” Seip said. “And do it in a way that we can help people find careers and opportunity that has longevity.”

Innovative Funding Model

The proposal involves harnessing union pension funds to finance hard-to-fund affordable housing projects. Under this model, a developer or agency would own and oversee the project while construction crews trained from within the community would earn union wages.

“It’s basically to introduce all the various investors that we have for our (union) pensions … to developers and people who want to build projects,” Seip explained. “But do it in a way that we can ensure that the project can be used for workforce development for the community at the same time.”

When construction is completed, rental income would pay back loans or bonds, community members would have learned valuable trades, and the pension fund would be strengthened through hours worked on the projects.

Housing Authority Partnership Discussions

The Kansas City Housing Authority has shown early interest in the proposal and has begun exploring a potential partnership. The discussions center around training community members, funding, and working on the authority’s ambitious 10-year, $2.6 billion housing development plan.

The talks with organized labor were first acknowledged publicly on May 1, according to the source material.

Seip describes his role as being a connector, working to create “connections that make sense” among union workers, contractors, developers and governments to generate more work opportunities for the union members and contractors he represents.

Addressing Housing Shortage

The initiative comes as Kansas City faces an ongoing affordable housing shortage that has become a focal point for many stakeholders in the construction and development sectors.

While similar pension-funded affordable housing projects have operated in cities across the country for decades, this approach would be unique to Kansas City. The model addresses multiple community needs by combining affordable housing development with local workforce training and union job creation.

The proposal represents a potential solution to what Seip calls “several pieces of the affordable housing puzzle,” offering a financing mechanism that could make previously unfeasible projects economically viable while providing career pathways for local residents.