Media Coverage

Daily Record
By Michael Daigle
June 14, 2008

Tour highlights area's affordable-housing projects in Morris

Alliance organizes visits to six sites including group homes for disabled

Steve Somach stood before the 30 people on the Lakeland Bus Friday and said that he was ready to live on his own.

Somach, who is developmentally disabled and was accompanied by his father, also Steve Somach, spoke to housing advocates and officials, including Lucy Voorhoeve, executive director of the state Council on Affordable Housing, during the annual affordable housing tour organized by the Morris Housing Alliance, an affiliate of the United Way of Morris County.

The group visited six affordable-housing projects in the county ranging from homes for developmentally handicapped persons in Roxbury and Hanover to low-income developments in Morristown and Harding.

The tour was designed to highlight the partnerships among agencies and the collaborations needed among funding authorities, housing advocates and partners, such as the 17 churches that joined Morris Habitat for Humanities to build a duplex in Morristown, said Michelle Roers DiNapoli, United Way community impact director.

She organized the tour with Melody Federico of NewBridge Services, co-chairwoman of the Housing Alliance.

Voorhoeve said that she was impressed by the projects that were displayed and appreciated the cooperation and joint efforts that resulted in the six projects.

"Morris County is an example of how affordable housing can be developed," she said. With agencies and towns working together, she said, these projects showed how affordable housing can be built through infill development that fit into neighborhoods.

Somach is a client of The Rose House, an agency that supports developmentally disabled persons through housing and job opportunities.

He said the agency has given him a chance at independent living and he is looking forward to moving into the new home once it is done. He works at Employment Horizon in the technology center.

His father said that Rose House offers people like his son the chance to learn about the real world.

Rose House Executive Director Mark Kramer said the type of home the agency will build in Cedar Knolls is a step away from traditional group homes, and a huge step beyond institutionalization. He said it offers clients the opportunity to live more independently than in the past. He said there are 8,000 developmentally disabled people in New Jersey who need independent housing.

The projects highlighted in the tour:

• Community Hope, Roxbury: The renovated single-family dwelling that is home to four mentally ill persons who are able to live on their own was opened in 2006. Community Hope secured a $380,000 capital grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, and $17,500 grants from both United Way of Morris County and Roxbury.
• NewBridge Services Inc., Boonton: The home now called South Terrace is a former private residential health care facility purchased in 2007 from the owners, who were retiring. A private sale would have displaced the 15 elderly residents. NewBridge bought the home using $1.6 million from the special needs trust fund, $100,000 from United Way of Morris County and a $404,000 bridge loan from the New Jersey Division of Mental Health Services. Renovations now allow nine residents to have their own bedrooms.
• Affordable Harding Corp.: This 24-unit project was developed by Harding, which established an affordable-housing corporation in 2005 to implement its state-approved fair housing plan. The five-building complex cost $3.8 million and is designed to resemble a semi-rural farm complex. It is a mix of low- and moderate-income units.
• Morris Habitat for Humanities, Morristown: With partners Madison Affordable Housing Corp. and 17 local churches, the two-family home is nearly ready for occupancy. Habitat demolished the existing home and built a duplex. It is one of several affordable-housing projects in the 2nd Ward, including a Madison Housing project across the street, a 24-unit private development called George Street Commons where work has just started, and two Homeless Solutions projects on Abbett Avenue.
• Homeless Solutions, Morristown: Abbett Avenue Apartments, a $3 million project for two buildings, should be ready for occupancy in August. The project replaced an existing building and a small garden plot and was assisted by funding through Morris County, United Way of Morris County, and with the help of Morristown's government. The buildings meet or exceed the state's green building standards.
• The Rose House, Hanover: The $1.95 million project will replace an existing home on a one-acre lot with a home that could house 12 people with development disabilities who can live independently. The new home should be ready by the end of the year.