Waukesha group seeks housing for people with disabilities
Waukesha - Hebron House of Hospitality is proposing to build a 10-unit, federally subsidized apartment building at 620 Summit Ave. that would serve people with physical, mental or other disabilities.
The Waukesha Plan Commission is scheduled to make a recommendation on rezoning the parcel at its 6:30 p.m. meeting Wednesday. A public hearing before the Common Council, which has the final say, would follow at a later meeting.
The site currently is zoned for up to four apartments but has a vacant home converted to a duplex, a shed and a trailer house on a cement slab. City Planner Michael Hoeft said the property near Horeb Park is surrounded by single family homes.
Bernie Juno, executive director of Hebron House and a leading advocate of affordable housing and emergency shelter for the homeless and others in need in Waukesha County, said the project would cost about $1.3 million. A grant application with the U.S. Department of Housing and Development is pending, Juno said.
As proposed, 10 one-bedroom apartments would be on the upper level of the two-story building, Juno said. The lower level would include community space, a reception area, lounge and an exercise and therapy room. A manager would live in one of the apartments.
"The really nice part about it is that each apartment carries rent assistance along with it, so a person pays only 30% of their income," Juno said. The apartments would rent for about $600 a month, she estimated.
Hoeft said Hebron House officials will likely be asked whether the apartment building's first-floor community space would serve as temporary shelter for homeless men in the future. A temporary shelter has been allowed at St. Matthias Episcopal Church last winter and this one, but the Plan Commission indicated in its conditional use approval that the arrangement would face new hurdles if a third year were requested.
Juno said she wouldn't want the prospects of a homeless shelter at the new apartments to jeopardize project approval.
"I could see us doing it, if the neighbors wouldn't object," she said.
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