Scattered-Site Rental Housing

People with disabilities has historically been sent to institutional-like settings, and people with disbilities, families, friends, and advocates have fought that mentality for decades, and the trend is toward greater integration into the community.  But many of the housing units available to people with disabilities that have some kind of subsidy such as HUD/USDA funding or Low-Income Housing Tax Credit tend to be apartment buildings or townhomes.  Nothing wrong with that, but it's nice to have options.

So I read with great interest the partnership between the City of Milwaukee and Gorman & Companies on scattered-site rental housing.  Gorman in the past has worked on scattered-site housing, the Metcalf Park Owner Initiative, which is lease-to-own.  This new project has the City selling 21 foreclosed duplexes to Gorman for $5,000 each to create 40 rental units (one will be a leasing office).  Gorman has funding for the project, including tax credits, federal neighborhood stabilization funds, and a bank loan. 

It's nice to see tax-credit developers exploring alternatives to the apartment/townhouse models, especially given the high number of foreclosed homes in Milwaukee.  Single-family homes, including duplexes, are difficult to make accessible, especially Milwaukee's older homes with exposed foundations on small lots with a steep drop to the sidewalk level.   It'll be interesting to see what homes were selected, and what steps Gorman will take to make them more accessible for persons with mobility disabilities.

Other organizations and individuals interested in scattered-site rental housing might want to check out Neighborworks' webinar on this topic.

July 14, 2011, 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT. This NeighborWorks America-sponsored webinar offers participants a tour of the new online Scattered Site Rental Toolkit, and will hear presentations by two organizations that manage successful scattered site programs.

P.S.  To Tom Daykin: I especially enjoyed the dig at those making negative comments on your first article on the Gorman purchase.

I would note that no one from the public spoke at today's committee meeting in opposition to the $7.4 million project, which still needs full council approval. Nor did committee members receive any emails or letters opposing the sale, according to the City Clerk's office.  That's worth mentioning, I think, given the number of negative comments that appeared in my blog item from Monday when I first reported the proposal.