Interfaith Community Housing breaks ground on a long-term project to bring affordable housing to Milford.
The Wilmington based developer, Interfaith Community Housing, says the project will bring at least 36 and up to 95 affordable housing units to the Milford area.
Interfaith’s Resource Development Director Catherine Davis says creating more affordable housing options in Milford is a priority.
“There’s a lot of wealth at the beach, and one of the worries is that this area is going to gentrify because of that. So it’s even more important to have affordable housing here because this is where a lot of the industry is.” she said.
Milford mayor Todd Culotta, agrees. He says his city is the fastest growing in the state, and that those working jobs the city is creating should be able to live nearby.
“The housing supply is just not keeping up with the amount of demand. People coming in from out of the area, people coming in to joining the work force and things like that. So, we need to have more affordable options.”
Davis says the land for this project is still covered with trees and has no infrastructure or utility hookups - making it hard to secure funding for a plan to development that’s some 2 decades old.
“When we receive funding, everyone wants to see the projects done within two years. And, that’s great if you’re actually building a house- this land is not ready for that. Putting in the roads, putting in the
sewer systems, putting in all of the infrastructure that needs to go in- it’s almost impossible to receive funding for, because it takes so long to get it from this to an actual home.” she said.
With the help of $2.5 million dollars in federal funding -secured through a Congressionally Directed Spending Grant- Interfaith plans to have the land ready for houses within the next three years.
But Housing Development Manager Carlton Bowers points out actually getting houses on the plot once its ready will likely take “several more millions of dollars”
