Dale Drive Apartments

Renovated Building Now Permanent Supportive Housing Units for Formerly Homeless Individuals in Montgomery County

The Home Builders Care Foundation (HBCF), the charitable affiliate of the Maryland-National Capital Building Industry Association (MNCBIA) played a key role in the development of a permanent supportive housing complex in Silver Spring - The Dale Drive Apartments. As part of a team of public and private sector agencies and nonprofit organizations, HBCF served as a primary resource for the extensive rehabilitation of a 10-unit apartment complex that will provide permanent, affordable and supportive housing for single disabled adults who are exiting homelessness.

Once a vacant, dilapidated building, the property, located at 527 Dale Drive, is a three-story brick building containing 10 small one-bedroom units. Having been completely renovated, the apartments are now home to eight single adults. The two remaining units serve as an apartment for an on-site resident counselor and an office for a full-time social worker/case manager. The Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless will provide case management services.

Maryland Development Co LLC / Ridan Builders Inc. served as Builder Captain for HBCF’s portion of the project. President Ted Smart spoke at the ceremony and provided an overview of the project. He gave special acknowledgement to Kem Snow of Ridan Builders for his dedication and commitment to personally oversee the extensive Dale Drive renovation project. In his role as the on-site construction supervisor, Mr. Snow spent many days and weeks ensuring that all aspects of the project were duly addressed. He also thanked a number of industry members for their contributions to the renovation, including

  • B & K Distributors
  • Bay Door & Hardware
  • Budget Commercial Cleaning
  • Business Flooring
  • Creative Landscapes by Gregory, Inc.
  • 5th Avenue Floors
  • Floors Inc.
  • GE Appliances
  • Kings Valley Painting & Drywall
  • Labor Finders
  • Long Fence
  • Mid-South Building Supply
  • Rexel Electric
  • Riggs, Counselman, Michaels & Downes, Inc.
  • Rockville Interiors
  • Trim Plus and
  • TW Perry
.
gutted kitchen before onset of work same kitchen after renovation

HOC acquired the property together with DHCA. $1,580,000 in funding was secured from the County’s Housing Initiative Fund. HBCF's commitment of both in-kind labor and materials and cash contributions to the project was valued at $200,000. Other funding for renovation costs have been secured through HUD HOME ($1,000,000) and the Maryland Affordable Housing Trust ($100,000).

Supportive housing is like typical apartment life; residents who live there sign leases and pay rent, just like their neighbors, however, they have access to a range of services that allow them the opportunity to live with stability, autonomy, and dignity. It is permanent in the sense that there is no pre-determined minimum or maximum amount of time that residents can stay. Rent is based on household income and is generally 30%. Income eligibility is targeted at less than 50% average mean income (AMI).

According to research conducted by the Corporation for Supportive Housing, supportive housing has been proven to have positive impacts on health, employment, on treating mental illness, and on reducing or ending substance use. It has also proven to be cost-effective--costing essentially the same amount of money to house someone in stable, supportive housing as it does to shuffle the person through various emergency housing situations.

“Supportive housing works,” says Sharan London, Executive Director of the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless. “It provides the housing stability people need to be able to address other areas of their lives. We’ve seen the success of the Partnership for Permanent Housing – children doing well in school, parents working or increasing their education – because they are housed and supported in that housing.”

HOUSING FOR THE HOMELESS … The Montgomery County Council on Jan. 15, 2008 recognized the Home Builders Care Foundation, the charitable affiliate organization of the Maryland-National Capital Building Industry Association (MNCBIA), for its contributions of labor and materials that helped rehabilitate an apartment building on Dale Drive in Silver Spring. The building is owned by the County’s Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC), which provides affordable housing for the homeless and for disabled adults. At the ceremonies were, left to right: Councilmember Valerie Ervin; Tedi Osias of HOC; Raquel Montenegro of MCBIA; Sharan London, executive director of the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless; Sally Roman of HOC; Councilmember George Leventhal; and Patti Kane and Michael Conley of the Home Builders Care Foundation.

 

A 501 (c) (3) Non-Profit Community Outreach Program affiliated with the Maryland National-Capital Building Industry Association.

We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.