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New community brings more affordable housing
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Related Topics: Elkridge
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Frank Surgeon, a contractor for Port Capital Village in Elkridge, makes a few last checks Tuesday at the apartment complex before its grand opening Thursday.
Elkridge (Map, News) - Demand is high for apartments in a new Elkridge housing community as Howard County moves to address a need for more affordable housing.
“The response has been amazing,” said Jason Battestelli, spokesman for The Ingerman Group, a Cherry Hill, N.J.-based affordable housing builder that developed Port Capital Village in Elkridge.
On Thursday, Howard officials plan to celebrate the opening of Port Capital Village, a community of 84 subsidized apartments financed through federal low-income housing tax credits, the Maryland Community Development Administration, the county’s Department of Housing and Community Development, and the county’s Housing Commission.
The seven-building development features two- and three-bedroom apartments and includes a community building with laundry facilities. Rents range from $528 for a two-bedroom to $960 for a three-bedroom, Battestelli said.
The on-site management office has been swamped with applicants, he said.
“They are the people who are working and making money but can’t afford to live in the county they are working in,” he said.
Many residents have moved in, and officials expect it to be fully leased in several months, Housing Director Stacy Spann said.
More affordable housing communities are in the works, but Howard is moving toward a mixed-income model, unlike Port Capital Village, which is all affordable.
“We are going to be developing our own properties and including affordable and middle-income and total market rate-income [homes] as well,” Spann said.
The Interfaith Coalition for Affordable Housing supports a shift to dispersing affordable housing units throughout new developments, rather than concentrating them in one project, coalition member Andre De Verneil said.
However, in a county with a such an affordable housing need, these new residences are welcome, he said, “because anything is good.”
smichael@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
10:43 AM MST on Sat., Sep. 6, 2008 re: "Waiting-list for low-income housing open in Montgomery"
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Telisa said:
I am 17 years old. me and my 4month old daughter need a place to stay...we need help....how do i go about moving in a HUD property ASAP??
3 agree | 1 disagree
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Examiner Reader/Nadia said:
I have NO idea if you can help But Im going to take a shot at it - Last FRI there was Gun fire exchanged at my apartmnt complex right infront of my door. I have a month to month lease and have put in my 30 day notice to move out since i feel extremely unsafe. How can I move before the 30 days are up without being charged?
4 agree | 2 disagree
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Wai Yip Tung said:
By adding 60,000 units over 20 years, this housing 'boom' represent an annual growth rate of 0.77%.
6 agree | 7 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
No matter Mr. Metcalf's take on the real estate market, i have lived in SF since 1979 and, to the best of my knowledge, not a single-building boom has significantly effected the price of housing one way or the other, however, clearly (and arguably, unfortunately) real estate "bubbles" have. Even today's Chronicle states the Assessor's office in SF is overhwelmed with homeowners seeking a re-assessemnent of property values because of falling prices. My guess is that has more to do with the real estate "bubble" bursting than available housing on the market.
6 agree | 5 disagree
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Robin Ficker Broker Robin Realty said:
The county this year increased property tax revenues 14% with another huge increase expected next year. Reduce spending, and hence the next for more tax increases, by $500,000.
10 agree | 7 disagree
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Examiner reader said:
Knapp might run against Leggett for County Executive? If that happened, Knapp would surely win. Given the choice of a fiscally irresponsible, clueless, pandering politition or a tool for the developers, the voters will probably choose the tool for the developers.
10 agree | 8 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Wow! It is unbelievable the amount of selfishness that I see in people who do live in these establishments. I suppose they have the mentality of give back to the community...but not on my block. Let me tell you...I ended up in this type of housing for a year. Thank GOD it was there! I relocated from LA to MD for a $120k/yr. job which I ended up being wrongfully terminated from when I caught pneumonia. As a single mother, an educated professional, worked in my field for 17 years...I was humbled. Don't let your fill yourself with so much gusto, God has a way of humbling those on their high horse.
6 agree | 5 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
hello my name is korena i live in jhonson homes which is pha/lowincome i am looking to get a transfer out of philly how can i do that
5 agree | 6 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Yeah, that's exactly what we need, project thugs in nice new developments. I don't think so!
7 agree | 9 disagree
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Reader said:
Get a fix it man and stop whining!
9 agree | 13 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
"Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation" Run by Thomas Perez, ex chairman of the board of Casa de Md. I wonder if he allowed illegal aliens to fix or certify the roof.
9 agree | 11 disagree
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Norwood Apts Reader said:
As a tenant at the Norwood I take issue with your characterization of tenants as welfare seekers. These tenants are working class low income people who work service jobs in DC. Some tenants work in the mail room at the White House, waiters at Old Ebbitt Grill, or cleaning offices. These people are the ones who help our city run and we deserve to have a decent place to live. By decent I mean demanding a proper working elevator that does not take 31 days to repair.
375 agree | 261 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Columbia doesn't need anymore housing.....Most of the individuals at the meeting, are those seeking welfare and goverment funded housing........
299 agree | 280 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
When will this new policy take place?
643 agree | 289 disagree
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Silver Springer said:
This is a remarkably important story and the Examiner deserves a lot of credit for digging it out. while bigger papers in Baltimore and Washington failed to do so. Mortgage regulators should have stopped the current binge of looney loans years ago. They failed to do so and now large numbers of homeowners are facing foreclosure -- and more will in the future. That's a terrible price to pay to sell more loans and to inflate short-term lender profits.
301 agree | 275 disagree
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