GRAND CHUTE, WI (WTAQ) – The need for affordable housing in the Fox Cities is being addressed thanks to the Appleton Housing Authority.
The group announced Tuesday its management role for the new Grand View Townhomes development at a groundbreaking ceremony and project rendering unveiling.
“The affordability is something that is substantially needed within the Fox Cities,” says Debra Dillenberg, Executive Director of the Appleton Housing Authority. “The need for affordable housing just increases.”
Currently, the AHA’s Housing Choice Voucher waiting list is at 2,000 requests.
The project, located at 551 N. Bluemound Drive in the Town of Grand Chute, will have 40-units of residential walk-up townhomes. It will be two separate buildings of 20 units each, currently planned as two-story private unit entries with some private garages. Approximate unit sizes are 850-square feet for one bedrooms, 1,150-square feet for two bedrooms and 1,375 square feet for three bedrooms.
“Ten of the units will be set aside for homeless families and those that may have a disability,” Dillenberg says. “Or it could be a veteran family as well.”
Officials say Grand View Townhomes will be a non-age restricted housing community with a range of income affordability, including units at 30% to 60% county median income (CMI) market rate rents. Of those 10 units Dillenberg spoke of, AHA will provide six Housing Choice (Section 8) vouchers to assist qualifying families, veterans and disabled veterans with monthly rental costs at 30% of CMI.
The $7.071 million project is scheduled to open in August 2017, and will be completed by Horizon Design Build Manage, a Madison-based group of companies specializing in full service development, construction and management of residential multi-family real estate. Horizon is also the co-developer of the project, along with the AHA.
Dillenberg credits the project collaborators and investors with making this possible. That includes the Wisconsin Department of Administration Division of Housing, the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA), City Real Estate Advisors (CREA), Neighborhood Housing, Inc., the AHA’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, which has contracted with Bank Mutual for the administration of its funding for the project.
