Demand is high for apartments in a new Elkridge housing community as Howard County moves to address a need for more affordable housing.
“The response has been amazing,” said Jason Battestelli, spokesman for The Ingerman Group, a Cherry Hill, N.J.-based affordable housing builder that developed Port Capital Village in Elkridge.
On Thursday, Howard officials plan to celebrate the opening of Port Capital Village, a community of 84 subsidized apartments financed through federal low-income housing tax credits, the Maryland Community Development Administration, the county?s Department of Housing and Community Development, and the county?s Housing Commission.
The seven-building development features two- and three-bedroom apartments and includes a community building with laundry facilities. Rents range from $528 for a two-bedroom to $960 for a three-bedroom, Battestelli said.
The on-site management office has been swamped with applicants, he said.
“They are the people who are working and making money but can?t afford to live in the county they are working in,” he said.
Many residents have moved in, and officials expect it to be fully leased in several months, Housing Director Stacy Spann said.
More affordable housing communities are in the works, but Howard is moving toward a mixed-income model, unlike Port Capital Village, which is all affordable.
“We are going to be developing our own properties and including affordable and middle-income and total market rate-income [homes] as well,” Spann said.
The Interfaith Coalition for Affordable Housing supports a shift to dispersing affordable housing units throughout new developments, rather than concentrating them in one project, coalition member Andre De Verneil said.
However, in a county with a such an affordable housing need, these new residences are welcome, he said, “because anything is good.”
