NORWICH – The first of six affordable housing duplexes in a planned community for seniors was unveiled this morning.
The Brown Avenue Homes, a Norwich Housing Authority Project that’s been in the works since 1999, recently completed its first two-unit structure.
“We’ve spent a lot of years working on this,” said Norwich Housing Authority Executive Director Judy Wingate-Wade. “It’s been worth it.”
Each unit is one story, designed with low-rise counter tops, wheelchair accessible bathrooms and Energy Star-certified appliances, windows and radiant heat flooring.
“What’s great about these homes is that they are accessible,” said Wingate-Wade. “And they are all Energy Star Certified.”
The Housing Authority wants to have two more duplexes finished within the next year. A total of six duplexes are planned for the development.
Wingate-Wade roughly estimates the final cost of the first two units will be around $147,000 each. After a $50,000 subsidy from the state, that leaves the buyers responsible for about $97,000.
The cost of subsequent homes in the development could very compared to the price of the first two units, Wingate-Wade noted, due to rising material and construction expenses.
To earn the $50,000 subsidy, potential buyers have to be income certified. In this case, that means a single income buyer can’t make over $30,750. A two-income household can’t exceed $35,100.
“With that subsidy,” said Wingate-Wade, “hopefully it will be affordable.”
There are certain deed and age restrictions: Purchasers must be at least 55 years old; if they sell the house within 15 years a percentage of the $50,000 subsidy must be returned; and owners are not allowed to add on to the structures, per the development’s rules as a planned use community.
There is currently an 18-person waiting list of potential buyers.
Former mayor and 6th Ward Alderman Joseph Biviano, for whom one of the two streets in the development is named, praised Wingate-Wade and the Housing Authority for their vision and perseverance.
“The Norwich Housing Authority is a unique group. They backed this all the way. They had the foresight for this project,” said Biviano, who helped model the development after a similar one he visited in Endicott in the mid-1990s. “It cleared up a blighted area. Plus, look around at some of these larger homes; older people can’t afford the heat, insurance and upkeep. These (units) are one floor and manageable.”
Biviano thinks with more help from the state, the project could be model for others like it in Norwich and elsewhere.
“If that project continues,” Biviano added, “it’s a model not just for Norwich, but for the whole state. And if there had been more support from the state and other groups, they could have lowered the price and made it more affordable to many seniors.”
Biviano cited past aldermen Robert Rabinowitz, James Cushman, Sharon Jeffers, Jeff Thornton, Patrick McNeil, George Carnrike, Jr., and Barbara Schermerhorn for their strong support of the project.
“We did this to fill what we saw was a need for affordable housing in the city,” said Wingate-Wade, “and to improve the neighborhood in general.”
The Housing Authority purchased the land, what was once the site of the Tracy Bakery and Victory Markets, in 1999. The city then bought the vacant Brown Ave. bowling alley next door and transferred ownership to the NHA in 2001. Over the next seven years, the project was slow going due to infrastructure and state and federal funding issues. Eventually the rise in construction costs over that time forced the project to be re-designed, delaying the project one more year.
The NHA was formed in 1966, and is funded through the federal government. Peacock Park Manor, its first project, was built in 1976 and its second, Bordentown Circle, in 1980.