The Newark Housing Authority breaks ground on an affordable housing development right behind its administration building.
The George Read Village will be built in two phases with the first phase being a midrise delivering 52-one bedroom units to house seniors.
The second phase will target families, offering 20 units ranging from two-to-four bedrooms.
Newark Housing Authority Executive Director Marene Jordan says this will expand the city’s affordable housing stock.
"Well, first of all, this is a college town so rents are extremely high. So anytime that you can partner with a developer to bring on more affordable housing not only is it beneficial to the city, but it's also beneficial to our residents,” said Jordan. “We had an opportunity to expand by 18 units and I know, for some, that's a small number but for a small housing authority 18 units is huge."
The project is funded by $26.6 million in local, state and federal investments with over $5 million from DSHA, almost $4 million in ARPA funds, $1 million in New Castle County HOME funding and $431,000 from the city of Newark.
"It's a great project. We're going to be serving both families and senior citizens, and not only are we preserving the subsidies the units that are in place now, but we're even expanding to include more units of affordable housing, which is so important across the state. But very much so here in Newark, too," said Delaware State Housing Authority Director Matt Heckles.
The funds also included a little over $1 million Low Income Housing Tax Credits that generated about $10 million in equity.
The plan is for the project to be up and running by the latter part of 2027.
The apartments will be available to households with incomes between 30% and 50% of the Area Median Income to ensure that these units are accessible to those who really need it most.
