Detroit leaders break ground on $17M Maya Angelou Village housing facility
Detroit — City leaders joined with Alternative For Girls, a social services organization, to break ground Monday on a $17.3 million supportive housing facility in northwest Detroit.
Mayor Mike Duggan and City Council President Pro Tem James Tate joined leaders of Alternatives For Girls, a Detroit-based nonprofit that aims to help high-risk young women avoid violence, teen pregnancy and exploitation, to announce the housing project in Detroit’s Miller Grove neighborhood.
In collaboration with nonprofit developer Full Circle Communities, they announced the Dr. Maya Angelou Village. Located at 16711 Burt Road, near Grand River and McNichols Avenues, it will feature 45 units of affordable and permanent supportive housing with resources to aid those experiencing or at risk of homelessness. The three-story building is scheduled to open early next year.
It will also include indoor and outdoor community spaces and case management offices for residents. The development replaces land that has been vacant for a decade.
AFG named the development after Angelou with full support of the author, poet and civil rights activist’s family. Much of Angelou’s work seeks to tell her own story of overcoming trauma as a girl and young woman whose experiences, much like the girls the new facility aims to serve.
“Her memory and words will serve as an inspiration for the residents of the neighborhood and all of Detroit for generations to come through this new development,” said Amy Good, AFG’s chief executive officer. “Though affordable housing is an imperative in Detroit, we didn’t want to provide a place only to sleep and eat. We wanted to create a space that serves the whole individual. This center advances AFG’s mission to meet housing and supportive services needs of young people across Detroit and will be a place where lives are changed.”
Founded in 1987, Alternatives For Girls has served more than 30,000 young Detroiters and their children. Full Circle Communities, was founded in 1999, and to date has created or preserved over 1,500 units of affordable and supportive housing.
The project was selected for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits in the Michigan State Housing Development Authority’s 2020 funding round. The City of Detroit’s Housing & Revitalization Department put $1.8 million in Community Development Block Grants-CARES Act funds into the project, plus an additional $950,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Among the center’s 45 units, 10 will be offered at 30% area median income, those making less than $19,000 annually for about $470 per month to rent a one-bedroom, and 12 at 50% AMI, or less than $32,000, according to the city. The remaining 23 units will receive rental assistance from MSHDA’s supportive housing program. In those units, residents will pay no more than 30% of their income, no matter what their income is. The other 22 units will offer rents as low as $450 for a one-bedroom, $540 for a two-bedroom and $624 for a three-bedroom apartment. Duggan said the project falls in line with his mission to create more affordable housing that uses vacant land.
“All over this city, we are helping to create both affordable and permanent supportive housing with wraparound services that do so much more than just provide a roof over Detroiters’ heads,” Duggan said. “Developments like the new Alternatives for Girls center will help give Detroiters the support they need to achieve the best possible outcomes for them and their families.” Full Circle Communities will invest 75% of its revenue from developing the project toward providing tenant services. AFG will provide a wide range of services that are trauma-informed, and use a whole-family approach to promote long-term safety and stability for families living at the center. Supportive services will include assessment and referrals for health care, counseling, referrals to job training and employment.
“We are honored to work alongside AFG as a dynamic and thoughtful partner in our continuing effort to address youth homelessness in Detroit,” said Joshua Wilmoth, president and CEO of Full Circle Communities. “The on-site supportive services provided by AFG will help residents access vocational training and secure employment, and provide consistent, individualized support toward success.”
Tate, who represents District 1, said the project will help strengthen the Miller Grove community as it becomes more densely populated.
“The young mothers and children who will have their lives changed for the better will make our community’s future stronger. As we move Detroit forward, it is important that we ensure that no Detroiter is left behind,” Tate said.
Source: Sarah Rahal, detroitnews.com
