HomeMy WebLinkAboutFORT COLLINS SUPPORTIVE HOUSING - PDP - 08-07 - MEDIA - CORRESPONDENCESaturday, March 18, 2006 -
- o Fort Collins
News editor: Pat Ferrier, 224-7742
Nonprofit plans, al
Units would be for low-income disable
By PAT FBMER
PatFerrier@coloradoan.com
A Minnesota nonprofit com-
pany plans to build a 23-unit,
two-story apartment building
for low-income disabled resi-
dents on Harmony Road.
Accessible Space Inc., has
$235 million in funding from the
U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development to develop
the project on 2 acres west of the
intersection of Hogan Drive and
Harmony Road.
. The city of Fort Collins has
agreed to kick in $500,000 from
its home and affordable housing
programs and will consider an
additional $350,000 request in
May, said Ken Waido, chief city
planner for the advanced plan-
ning department
The project has been through
the city's early review process,
said Ted Shepard, chief planner
for the city's current planning
department
Dan Billmark, director of real
estate development with Acces-
sible Space Inc, said the project
will serve disabled residents
making 50 percent or less of the
county's median income.
In Larimer County, the medi-
an income for one person is
$48,450-1 eligibility for the new
units, therefore, would be
$24,225 or below.
Rents could be capped at
roughly $350 per month, Bill -
mark said.
More than 31,000 Latimer
County residents are living with
a disability, according to the
2000 Census.
Housing is a critical issue for
many of them, said Nancy Jack-
son, executive director of Dis-
abled Resource Service in Fort
Collins.
Late last year, Jackson said her
office worked with 165 people
who had various housing needs.
"The current features in many
apartment units that promote
themselves as accessible don't
have all the features that a person, ,
particularly someone in a wheel-
chair, might need," she said.
Features to be included in the
1 o• do •
BusinessNews@color-adoan.com
partment buiIding
,d residents
Accessible Space project in-
clude roll -in showers to accom-
modate wheelchairs, roll -under
counters, cooktop stoves and
wall ovens.
"You don't find those in a lot
of apartments that are available
in the community," she said.
The project is still in its early
stages, but Accessible Space
hopes to . break ground early
next year and be open by the
end of 2007.
It's a realistic timeframe,
Shepard said. The next step as
far as the city is concerned, is a
public meeting with residents
living in the area. The land is
near the Fairways subdivision
off Harmony Road.
Interested?
Residents interested in get-
ting on a waiting list for a
unit may call Accessible
Space at (800) 466-7722,
ext. 284. Visit www. Accessi
blespace.org for more infor-
mation on the organization.
Shepard anticipates there
may be some "good old-fash-
ioned compatibility issues" be-
tween residents who may not
want a multifamily project in a
single-family neighborhood.
The subsidized housing will
allow low-income disabled resi-
dents to live independently, Bill -
mark said.
Units ,will be available for
Eligibility for a unit
■ Must have physical dis-
ability, including but not lim-
ited to a closed brain injury,
hearing or visual impairment
■ Income that's 50 percent
or less of the county's medi-
an income.
people with physical disabilities
who make at or below 50 per-
cent of the median income.
"It's hard for people to find
good accessible housing," said
Dolores Kueffier, program man-
ager for the Northern Colorado
Chapter of the National Multiple
Sclerosis Society, who wrote a
letter to HUD supporting the
project