On Monday, June 2, Milford Housing Development Corporation broke ground on Riverwalk Villas, an affordable housing project located along the Mispillion River in Milford. According to David Moore, CEO of MHDC, this is project that has been over two years in the making.
“With the help of Rob Pierce from the city, we are now able to bring an affordable housing project to Milford,” Moore said. “I will say this, it has been a pleasure working with the city of Milford. Special thanks to the planning department, the planning commission and Milford City Council for helping this project become a reality. Our mayor has a focus on helping not only the developers, but also the infrastructure, the sidewalks, this street behind me will be widened. These telephone poles will be buried. These are all the things that came about during the planning of this project.”
Senator Dave Wilson spoke in support of the project.
“Housing in this area is really important, we see people out on the streets, we have homeless people and if we can do anything to help people find a home and have the security they can lay their head on a pillow at night, it is a good thing,” Wilson said. “What I have always enjoyed about Dave’s projects is that the owner had to have a part in it, they had to help build their homes. When I look back on the success of the Milford Housing Development, it is just truly an honor to see this happening in Milford.”
Wilson pointed out that the new project was walkable with the Riverwalk and dog park nearby. He also stated that the biggest issue he had with development was that DelDOT was not keeping up with roadway infrastructure to handle the additional traffic, something he was focused on correcting.
“This is a perfect example of what we can do as a community, not just at the city administrative level, but also partners with community input and all these things to make what’s truly affordable housing,” Mayor Todd Culotta said. “We all like to throw that term around, but we have to start somewhere. Right here, in downtown, we’re going to have what we consider affordable housing that is walkable to our downtown and is accessible to everyone.”
Culotta pointed out that Milford was working with partners to do the right thing when it came to development so that, in ten years, there would not be complaints that it was not done correctly.
“I have been preaching for years about what affordable housing actually is,” Moore said. “That is different for everyone here today. But for homeownership, it is simple. It is 30 percent of your income, that includes principal, interest, taxes and insurance. If you’re paying more for that, you are going to fail. This percentage works for the service worker and for the CEO. When we hit that 80 percent and below, people come to us, they come to Habitat for Humanity, to see what the solution is. Often, we are asked why it is taking so long and I will say that the process itself is ungodly. The City of Milford was the easiest part of our process, but when you go through stormwater management in an area like this, we were still waiting last week for the letter in hand to move forward. We settled on this land two years ago.”
Moore pointed out that this was a unique project as it would have a master bedroom with a balcony that overlooked the river as well as a nice deck on the back.
“I wanted to finish these houses from back to front,” Moore said. “When I first began this project, I talked to Sudler Lofland and the first thing he said was ‘pay as much attention to the backs of these houses as you do to the front.’ And we did that. The area will be landscaped, and each unit has a garage with parking.”
Matt Heckles, Director of Delaware State Housing Authority, who stated that his department had been tasked by Governor Matt Meyer to find solutions to the affordable housing crisis in Delaware.
“We are supporting projects like this all up and down the state,” Heckles said. “What you guys do here at MHDC is tremendous and a legacy to what can be done in neighborhood redevelopment and home ownership. This project will provide an opportunity for low- and moderate-income families to own a home.”
Moore explained that the cost of the homes was not established as they had not begun construction.
“We want to get it moving with the goal in the end of if a family cannot afford $250,000, if that turns out to be the cost, we can buy down the price a little with Catalyst funds, which is creative financing that invests in affordable housing and makes things work for those who should be paying 30 percent for housing costs, not 60 to 70 percent.”
The amenities offered at Riverwalk Villas were developed by Jim Purcell and Tracy Hearn with the idea that they could be replicated throughout the state in other projects, further lowering costs. All townhomes are three bedrooms, 2.5 bath townhomes with Energy Star appliances. They are all two level with one car garages and parking for two vehicles in front of each home.
MHDC did not announce when they expected the project to be completed. They are also donating a portion of the land back to the city that will allow them to extend the Riverwalk and provided additional walking areas for the public.
