The proposed project.
If 700 new apartments rise as planned on the the grave of the Coliseum site, at least 19 of them will house families with government-subsidized rents.
The apartments are part of a broader, $395 million mixed-use project the Montreal firm called LiveWorkLearnPlay plans to build on the the Orange/George/State Street lot. The city a href=“http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/coliseum_plan_gets_a_final_yes/”>approved by the plan recently with a financial commitment of $12 million and is hoping the state and federal government kick in another $32 million for road improvements.
At its monthly commissioners meeting this week, the Housing Authority of New Haven (HANH) added, by a unanimous vote, approval of 19 federal Section 8 housing vouchers to ensure that part of the project includes affordable housing.
Altogether, the development will have 20 percent affordable units and the 19 project-based vouchers are only for phase one, which will be 370 units, said Kiran Marok, in an email. She’s a project director for LiveWorkLearnPlay.
LiveWorkLearnPlay‘s team promised to devote 20 percent of the housing, or approximately 70 apartments, to affordable or “workforce” housing.
The schedule calls for building the apartment in two phases. the rest of the firs phase affordable units will target a range of “workforce” income levels, Marok added.
That commitment grew out of public meetings between LiveWorkLearnPlay, local politicians, and Hill neighbors. After those discussions, the developer agreed to enlarge osme of the apartments. At least 10 percent of the affordable units are to be two-to-three bedroom apartments to attract working families, not only low-income working individuals.
The Section 8 rent subsidy approved at Tuesday’s HANH board meeting —which makes up the difference between what low-income families can afford and the fair market rent — runs for an initial term of 15 years, in an amount not to exceed $159,783 annually.
The arrangement is subject to the approval of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Paul Bass Photo
The motion to approve was offered by Commissioner Alberta Witherspoon (pictured) and seconded by Luis Maldonado. It passed unanimously after a presentation by the staff of LiveWorkLearnPlay.