Elliot Park affordable housing to expand
Downtown Journal
October 24, 2005
By Jeremy Stratton
An Elliot Park developer wants to expand its supportive/affordable housing project as a bridge to self-sufficiency for formerly homeless and chemically dependent residents.
Central Community Housing Trust (CCHT) hopes to add 60 apartments and townhouses and 27 underground parking spaces to the 124-unit Alliance Apartments, 719 E. 17th St.
The $6.1 million complex - built in 1997 with $600,000 in city money - "incorporates strong case management and support in living" for formerly homeless people "who want to live in a totally sober living environment," said Kirk Moorhead, CCHT senior project manager.
Nonprofit substance abuse treatment agency RS Eden provides services at Alliance.
"Alliance Addition" will cost $10.3 million. Moorhead said CCHT is seeking federal, state, city and private funding. If the money comes, construction could begin next year.
A CCHT-owned house at 722-724 E. 17th St. would be moved to make room for the addition. Moorhead said CCHT plans to sell the house to the Urban Project for $1 and relocate it to a vacant lot at the corner of East 15th Street & Park Avenue. CCHT would also pay to relocate 11 residents from the market-rate, single-occupancy apartments. The residents will receive moving allowances and a stipend to compensate for higher rent, if necessary.
One hundred Alliance units are now project-based Section 8 apartments, for which tenants pay 30 percent of their income. Moorhead said CCHT is seeking similar rental subsidies for 36 future units - 390-suare-foot efficiency apartments with the same services and entrance as Alliance's existing apartments.
The remaining 24 market-rate units will have seperate entrances - 11 of them with individual entries to two-story townhouses containing one bedroom and a den.
Said Moorhead, "It provides an opportunity for [current residents] to move to a more independent living environment but still have access to the community created at Alliance."
Most Alliance residents come directly from the streets, shelters or treatment programs, he said. Some don't stay long. "Initial turnover is really high, " he added. "If they're suspected of not being sober, they're out.
"That's one of the problems with homeless folks who end up going through treatment," Moorhead said. "Once out, they go back to the same pressures. This gives [them] an opportunity...to live in a supportive environment."
The current Alliance features units affordable at 50-60 percent of the metropolitan-area median income (MMI) and a few market-rate efficiencies, Moorhead said.
Elliot Park Nieghborhood, Inc. staffer David Fields said the Alliance "has a stellar reputation in the neighborhood."
Fields said the project preserves the existing house and "extends the spectrum of affordable housing to a different market."
Moorhead said the expansion will help preserve balance in the gentrifying neighborhood.
"With all these condo developments, the community is being accepting of some additional affordable housing," he noted.
CCHT has other projects in the neighborhood. The East Village Apartments, 1423 11th Ave. S, feature 180 apartments - 140 at market rate and 40 affordable at 50 percent of MMI. The St. Barnabas Apartments - a mix of market-rate apartments and subsidized, supportive housing for youth at 906 S. 7th St. - is full, six months after opening, Moorhead said.
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