It’s one thing to talk about affordable housing as a campaign issue or as a matter of policy, but it’s quite a different when a great example is staring you in the face.
And that will be the experience of thousands of Easton motorists and pedestrians as they travel on Port Street over the next year as they watch the construction of a three-floor mixed-use building, just a block from Route 322, called Port Street Commons.
With an official groundbreaking already done, The Arc, and its Chesapeake Neighbors affiliate, are well on their way to creating a unique model for affordable housing. While the first floor will house The Arc’s service center, which will provide a much-needed community resource center for those with intellectual or developmental disabilities, the building will offer nine affordable housing units ranging from two to three-bedroom apartments, targeting families with a household income at or below 60% of the area median income.
It’s a bold vision for what The Arc calls “expanding the possible.” But it does nonetheless come with some real challenges. We asked Arc advisor, Rivers & Roads’ Ross Benincasa, to walk us through that vision, some of the obstacles being faced, and the unique model Port Street Commons might become in the years ahead as other Eastern Shore communities find new ways to meet their housing needs.
This video is approximately five minutes in length. For more information about The Arc-Central Chesapeake, its Chesapeake Neighbors program, or Port Street Commons please go here.
Jeanne Marie Adcock says
What is this going to do to property values.
Rita Connolly says
Can they make the building less “ industrial “ looking.
Let it fit in with the old time charm of down town Easton?
Marc Ebersberger says
More important question is: “What is it going to mean to housing prices if we DON’T do this?” If we don’t have the teachers to educate our children, if we don’t have the emergency responders to protect us, if we don’t have the medical staff to cure and repair us, and all the folks to take care of us and our homes because we are no longer able to?? A community has to be worth more than just the real estate comparables.
Leslie Hamburger says
If The Talbot Spy had reaction options, I would “Like/Love” your response and give a “thumbs down” to the comment about property values and a “Like” for the comment referencing San Fran. As for the look, I like the design; everything doesn’t need to “fit in” with downtown Easton, which in the last few years, “fitting in” seems to reflect more about exclusivity than inclusion.
Meg Olmert says
Look to San Francisco to see what happens to property values when you don’t make decent housing available to low income families.
$1,800 a month median rental cost becomes a threat to the livability and property values as well.
I see this as an investment with a longer term return—something the market and community needs to support.