Disabled housing in the works
Several agencies working to make Hunters Hill Apartments a reality by 2010
Less than a year ago, five agencies partnered in an unprecedented collaboration with a goal of providing adequate housing for low income and disabled local residents.
CenterPoint Human Services, Experiment in Self Reliance (ESR), the Commission for the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness, the North Carolina Housing Foundation and Partners for Homeownership joined forces last fall to create the Hunters Hill project. The 12-unit complex is designed to provide permanent, supportive housing to mentally and/or physically disabled city residents whose income is at or below 30 percent of the local median income, which amounts to just over $12,000 a year for an individual.
Each partner agency brings a unique perspective and skill set to the table, which adds to the promise of the project as a whole, says Jane Milner, president of Partners for Homeownership.
“We’re the apprentice; we don’t have a track record in multifamily housing development,” she said of her organization. “We were very intent on getting this funding; what it took was many different collaborations.”
The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency recently approved a $1.2 million “Housing 400” loan for the Hunters Hill project, which is slated to be constructed on Hutton Street (near Peters Creek Parkway and Academy Street) around 2010. The total projected cost for the project is $1.5 million. Long term loans from the city and the county will cover the outstanding cost of the project, say the organizers.
“Essentially, we have enough money to build this project; we have that much committed,” explained Diane Evans, director of development for the North Carolina Housing Foundation. “What we’re seeking now is grants to … offset some of that loan money so that 30 or 40 years from now we don’t have quite as much to pay back.”
The N.C. Finance Agency money stems from funds appropriated by the General Assembly in 2006 to increase the number of available housing units to serve special populations.
“The General Assembly had the wisdom and the foresight to put money into housing,” said Tim West, planning and development coordinator for the City of Winston-Salem. “It’s a big chunk of money – it’s $1.2 (million) out of the whole housing budget … we appreciate our Legislature doing that.”
CenterPoint Human Services clients who receive some form of government disability will be eligible for consideration when it comes to placing folks in Hunters Hill, but ultimately, the occupants will be chosen based on the partners’ assessment of their ability to be successful in a largely independent environment. Rent and utilities will vary from tenant-to-tenant, but will equal no more than 30 percent of each resident’s disability income.
“The goal is that this will be their apartment as long as they want it,” commented Andrea Kurtz, implementation director for the city’s Ten Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness. “Part of what makes this project so strong is that tie between building the bricks and mortar where people will live and ensuring that they will have the services that will wrap around them that will make them successful where they are.”
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