Woonsocket agency shows off housing
developments
June 12th 2005, By: JOSEPH B. NADEAU, Staff Writer, The
Woonsocket Call
WOONSOCKET
-- You could say the Woonsocket Neighborhood Development Corp.
is a bit of a local secret in how to develop affordable
housing that blends with the community it serves. The
nonprofit WNDC revitalized the Constitution Hill neighborhood
with its 110 units of subsidized apartments in 36
well-maintained buildings. It has built 26 affordable homes in
brand new duplex buildings constructed off Rhodes Avenue on
Steve Lopes Way and is now at work on a 43-unit apartment
complex off Front Street that will mix upper-level residential
space with downstairs commercial uses.
But
Saturday, WNDC took a step toward showing other communities
how to find similar success with a series of bus tours out to
its local developments.
Visitors
from across Rhode Island were driven out to the WNDC home
sites, took walking tours of the neighborhoods, and even
visited some of the homes themselves through the hospitality
of their residents.
"This is
just amazing, that it's going on here," Marilyn Brown of North
Kingstown said, after getting off the WNDC bus to tour a home
at Steve Lopes Way.
Located
near the town line with North Smithfield, the Wood Ridge
Estates homes look more like a suburban development than they
do affordable housing units.
Qualifying
moderate- to low-income buyers can purchase the homes at a
below-market prices and pay a mortgage rather than rent to a
landlord.
"It's
gorgeous," Brown said, adding that WNDC officials appear to
"take pride in what they are doing."
The
visitors to Steve Lopes Way got the opportunity to walk
through the home Mina and Chris Delgado purchased from WNDC
for $139,000 under its affordable housing programs.
Chris
Delgado, employed by Bank of America, said he had looked at
purchasing homes in the $150,000 range, but couldn't find one
suitable for his family of four.
Mina Delgado loves their new home and said her daughters,
Ariana, 11, and Tatiana, 4, love their neighborhood, too.
"It's a
nice neighborhood and we all work together to keep it nice,"
she said.
The family
had previously rented an apartment in Central Falls for 10
years.
"It's a
beautiful home and we are able to have it because of WNDC's
programs," she said. "Without it we wouldn't be able to own a
house because the value of property keeps going up," she said.
While low
in cost for purchase, Paula Rezendes, WNDC's project manager,
said the homes at Steve Lopes Way are not opportunities for
real estate investment.
Rather, the homeowners who buy agree to deed restrictions that
will ensure the home will become available to new low- and
moderate-income families when sold, she said.
While the
Steven Lopes neighborhood is now just about complete, Rezendes
said WNDC has its eye on a new project for Burrillville that
will help it continue its development of affordable housing in
northern Rhode Island.
North
Smithfield Town Councilwoman Melissa Flaherty also stopped by
Saturday to take one of the tours.
"This is so impressive," Flaherty said of the Steven Lopes Way
development. "It's the first time I've been here and I think
it is a great way for the people here to have their own home,"
she said.
At the
WNDC office at Market Square, where the visitors were treated
to snacks and refreshments, Avi Matusiak, of the Housing Works
Coalition, and Shelia Brush of Grow Smart Rhode Island, said
the tours were a great opportunity for people to see how
affordable housing can work for a community.
"WNDC has
done a wonderful job building affordable housing and
integrating neighborhoods within the community," Matusiak
said.
Brush said
the fact that WNDC has been around for so long and has an
"extremely talented director" Joe Garlick, has helped the
organization put together creative projects such as the
new-mixed use development of apartments and businesses on
Front Street.
"They
really do it all," Brush said.
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