WILMINGTON, DE — The Todmorden East Foundation announced the groundbreaking Thursday for the Bennett Street Revitalization Project in the 800 block of Bennett Street on Wilmington’s East Side. This project is a key component for affordable housing renovation under Mayor Purzycki’s Neighborhood Plan. The Todmorden East Foundation will construct 20 new homes to provide housing for individuals and families at 80% of the area’s medium income. Twelve of the homes will be for sale to affordable housing families, and eight will be rentals. In addition, six vacant homes in the 1000 block of Bennett Street will be renovated and made available for rental.
The new homes will have three bedrooms, a living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry facilities and a landscaped yard designed by students from the Temple University School of Architecture. New Ecology and Energize Delaware are providing funding to assist in building affordable housing that achieves high levels of energy performance, climate-readiness, and improves indoor air quality through all-electric homes.
As a result of outreach by the City of Wilmington and the Todmorden East Foundation, several minority contractors have already been identified to participate in the 26-unit project.
The project has been made possible with funding from the Delaware State Housing Authority, the City of Wilmington, the Delaware General Assembly, Office of Sen. Chris Coons, the Longwood Foundation, the Welfare Foundation, the Laffey McHugh Foundation, New Castle County, the Wilmington Neighborhood Conservancy Land Bank, and the Rockford Woodlawn Foundation.
The Todmorden East Foundation is a subsidiary of the Todmorden Foundation, which has been a provider of affordable rental housing in the Flats Neighborhood in the City of Wilmington. The announcement begins a program to provide more available homes to families on the East Side, which are newly updated, and can be in service for years to come.
“The City of Wilmington is pleased to work with the Todmorden East Foundation to provide new affordable housing for families. In our Neighborhood Plan, I committed an unprecedented amount of resources to rebuild Wilmington neighborhoods. [Thursday’s] construction launch [occurred] on what had previously been a block full of boarded-up homes. This will be one of the largest housing efforts on the East Side and I’m looking forward to the completion of these new housing opportunities,” said Mayor Mike Purzycki.
“The Todmorden East Foundation is proud to work with so many partners to rebuild this neighborhood. In just 18 months, over 100 new people will move into the East Side into our 26 new homes. With a shortage of over 20,000 affordable housing units in Delaware, this effort will have a meaningful impact and revitalize Bennett Street,” said Richard Przywara, President & CEO of the Todmorden East Foundation.
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