Lynn Walker (pictured), whose 18 year-old son Johnny died in a shooting this summer, is one of the tenants moving into a new affordable housing complex that’s spiffing up a run-down stretch of Fair Haven. “This place is a blessing to me,” said Walker, poking through sunlit rooms of the Mutual Housing Association’s 24-unit development after a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday.
(Click here to watch a video of the ribbon-cutting shot by Empower New Haven’s Tom Ficklin.)
Walker and her five kids are already packing up their bags, eager to enter a new home in one of the seven buildings in the 300-block of Ferry and Poplar Streets. They’re scheduled to move in on Nov. 1. Walker, who now lives in “nasty” conditions near Chapel Street and Winthrop Avenue, says she feels “blessed” to make the change.
She’ll move into one of six “supportive housing” apartments designated for people who’ve struggled with homelessness, addiction, illness or other hardships. A central community center will hold offices for social service agencies who’ve partnered with Mutual Housing to provide a system of support: New Haven Home Recovery, Inc; Coordinating Council for Children in Crisis, Inc.; Cornerstone, Inc. and The Connection, Inc.
“This is going to push me and give me strength to carry on,” said Walker, who’s still grappling with her son’s death — he was taken off life support after being shot in the head on Aug. 20. She doesn’t know which apartment she’ll live in yet — the rehabbed townhouses on Poplar Street or the newly built ones on Ferry Street (workers, pictured, are still finishing those up).
Walker and a crew of supporters and Fair Haveners toured two of the Poplar Street homes Thursday, oohing and aahing at the hardwood floors and granite countertops (pictured). “You don’t get affordable housing like this!” noted visitor Lee Cruz. Apartments are available to families making 25 to 70 percent of the Area Median Income.
The apartments are also “energy efficient,” using Energy Star products — Click here to read more about their eco-friendly components. As visitors sipped Perrier and ate baklava during a brief lunch ceremony in the new community room, Seila Bruno-Mosquera, executive director of the Mutual Housing Association of South Central Connecticut, gave a special thanks to the Greater New Haven Community Loan Fund for lending the agency $500,000 to buy the blighted buildings at a time when no one else believed the project possible.
The $6.6 million project was financed with grants from the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, the city of New Haven, and the National Equity Fund. The Corporation for Supportive Housing, NeighborWorks America, the state Department of Economic and Community Development, NewAlliance Bank and Citizen’s Bank gave interim financing.
The pictures tell the story. These homes seem very nice and well built.Now, are there any programs in New Haven that can teach our young BLACK YOUTH how to build homes for themselves like these.The Black Youth of today need to learn a skill or a trade and to become self employed.Are there any local General Contractors in and around the New Haven Area that might be willing to employ youth and teach them a skill?
What ever happened to Brack Portier of Six Carpenters in New Haven. He was a successful carpenter that did a lot of work in New Haven. If he is still in New Haven,perhaps he might have some ideas on how to get the Black Youth in New Haven employed and develop technical skills.