New Affordable Housing in the Works
A new affordable housing development is scheduled to open in the Brownsville area late next year.
By THEO KARANTSALIS
A blighted Miami apartment complex built in the 1950s was torn down recently to make way for a new four-story affordable housing complex on the site.
“There was a vision of a faithful few to restore and preserve the legacy of the Hampton House and bring history alive right in the Brownsville community,” said Miami-Dade County Commissioner Audrey Edmonson. “The previous apartments were an eyesore but served as housing for some of our most vulnerable residents.”
The redevelopment of the Hampton Village Apartments, at 4301 NW 29th Ave. in central Miami-Dade, will create 100 low-income housing units for those earning 60 percent of the area’s median income. For example, a single person would have to earn less than $31,560 to qualify, according to the Florida Housing Finance Corp.
The $20 million redevelopment of Hampton Village, which began last week, has been made possible by federal stimulus monies allocated at the local level through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program, or NSP.
“Hampton Village is a text book example of how the federal government’s NSP is breathing new life into communities,” said Stephanie Berman, president of developer Carrfour Supportive Housing. “We are tearing down the walls of this building to usher in a new beginning for these Miami families.”
The project is expected to create about 100 jobs, with a completion date of late 2013.
The NSP initiative aims to revitalize neighborhoods by renovating and reactivating properties that were foreclosed upon or abandoned during the recession.
“Additional affordable housing will be available for the Brownsville community,” said Clarence Brown, Director of the county’s Community and Housing Management Division.
Brown added that aside from replacing a severely distressed apartment building, the Hampton Village project will complement the Historic Hampton House, a Historic Preservation project adjacent to the site.
Those who are interested in living at Hampton Village can go online and fill out an application at www.carrfour.org. For information, call 305-371-8300.
OCT