Two years after her husband died, just cleaning her Edgemere home wore Polly Bridges out.
At 81, she didn?t need the space, and certainly not the bills. So she packed up, moved into a brand new one-bedroom apartment in Dundalk, and couldn?t be happier.
“I have more time for me since I?ve been here,” Bridges said.
“And if you?re feeling lonely or down, there?s always someone wanting to talk. It is truly nice.”
Bridges pays just less than $600 a month at the Cove Point building in Dundalk, a rent-controlled complex in Dundalk that county officials said ? with an on-site library, exercise room and community center ? many mistake for upscale condominiums.
Baltimore County and state officials gathered Wednesday for a ceremonial groundbreaking of Cove Point?s second phase, which will provide 47 more units for seniors.
But already, there are 60 people on the waiting list. And other seniors are lined up for the 74-unit building under construction in Woodlawn expected to open in the fall. A waiting list is growing for the fourth of five phases of the Weinberg Village in Owings Mills.
The list indicates there isn?t enough affordable housing for the county?s 140,000 seniors, but Director of Aging Arnold Eppel said more new units have gone up in the past three years than ever before.
The county has assisted developers in building 1,005 affordable rental units for senior citizens 62 or older in the past three years, and preserved the affordability of 550 more, county records show.
With the three projects in the pipeline and another building at Miramar Landing in Middle River, 318 more units will bring the total number of affordable units in the county to 4,500, according to the records.
Eppel credited the administration of County Executive Jim Smith, himself 65, who attended Wednesday?s ceremony at Cove Point.
“That?s what renaissance is about, renewing our neighborhoods to allow our older residents to stay vibrant here,” Smith said.
“There is a real need to provide housing to the people who built our county.”
