Subject:  Purchase will bring more affordable local senior housing |
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Duplicate Dawg
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Date Posted: 22:30 06/28/09 Sun
(published in, Lowell Sun, 6-28-09)
By Bridget Scrimenti
bscrimenti@lowellsun.com
DRACUT -- Seniors living on fixed incomes sometimes have to choose between medication and food.
Senior housing units at Louisburg Square on Mammoth Road will hopefully ease that burden.
"Our seniors deserve it," said Selectman Joe DiRocco, who serves on the town's Affordable Housing Partnership Committee. "They work hard all their lives and, at the end, they don't have anything."
In December, the town will purchase an apartment building at 1476 Mammoth Road, with 38 existing senior units. The Dracut Housing Authority will manage the building.
Seniors who live in the apartments will pay 30 percent of their income, which includes deductions for prescriptions and medical bills.
"It's much more feasible for people," said Housing Authority Executive Director Mary Karabatsos. "It makes sense that someone on a fixed income will pay a fixed rent."
The town will buy the property from Gerry Lussier of Draco Homes for $2.7 million, using funds from Dracut's Community Preservation account.
The DHA will then pay the town $70,000 for 20 years, and then purchase the building from the town.
Karabatsos said the architects hired by the Housing Authority are close to sending their final documents for approval from the Department of Housing and Community Development, while construction is expected to start sometime after December.
The DHCD previously awarded $2.9 million to the Housing Authority to pay for renovations to the building.
Improvements will include an updated sprinkler system, new handicapped-accessible units, a new roof, new windows and doors, and bringing the building's elevator up to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Upgrades to the three-story building also include revamping some of the existing units to add new kitchens.
"They're pretty excited about it because they're getting an updated building," Karabatsos said of the residents.
While existing senior tenants will stay in their apartments, there are already about 200 residents on the waiting list for other available units.
"We're constantly trying to find other avenues to get more housing," DiRocco said. "With the economy the way it is, it's tough to survive."
DiRocco said the DHA hopes to develop an acre of property the town repossessed on Lakeview Avenue just before Nashua Road.
For many seniors, the need for affordable housing is just as critical as developing a sense of community.
The units at Louisburg Square are close to the senior center, an integral part of senior life in Dracut.
"The senior center is a really big piece of the culture in Dracut," Karabatsos said. "In most cases, as people retire, they like to go back to the area they grow up in."
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