Affordable Housing for Special Needs People Coming to Wallkill, N.Y.

Multi-Housing News Online
Aug. 3, 2012

Wallkill, N.Y.—The Community Preservation Corporation (CPC), a not-for-profit mortgage lender financing multifamily development throughout New York, has closed on a $7.95 million construction loan to develop Sunrise Apartments in the town of Wallkill, N.Y. The 79-unit complex, located in Wallkill’s Scotchtown neighborhood, will provide housing and access to supportive services to individuals and families with developmental and physical disabilities.

Sunrise Apartments will feature 53 one-bedroom, 12 two-bedroom and three threebedroom apartments plus one two-bedroom superintendent’s apartment in a community featuring a pair of three-story buildings. Amenities will include a community room, program space, laundry facilities and on-site parking.

Jonah Mandelbaum will oversee the Sunrise Apartments management, and Occupations, Inc. will provide support services for the community. The two are co-developers of Sunrise Apartments.

“The state, which funds a lot of the special needs housing, is moving away from the small group homes and community residences, because it’s an expensive proposition,” Doug Olcott, senior vice president and Hudson Valley regional director in the Hawthorne, N.Y. office of Community Preservation Corporation, tells MHN. “They would buy a single-family house, and adapt it to the residents’ needs, and put five or six or seven clients in it.”

The state views this project’s very different approach more favorably, he adds. That approach is to build the community on land owned by Occupations, Inc. adjacent to its primary facility, which houses a commercial kitchen, bus and van transportation, job training and case management services. “It made sense to build a residential complex for their clients right next door,” Olcott says.

While financing developments can often be a challenge, Olcott says, “You have a developer here, Jonah Mandelbaum, who’s built more than 1,000 units in Orange County over 20 years, most through the tax-credit program. And the state housing agency, New York Homes and Community Renewal, liked the project because of the special needs component.”

Supportive services provided by Occupations, Inc. will include clinical services, case management, employment opportunities, job opportunities, employment training services and bus and van service from its adjacent headquarters facility.

CPC will provide a $7.95 million first mortgage construction loan through its New York State Pension Fund to Mandelbaum and Occupations, Inc.; Orange County Trust and Walden Savings Bank are participating member banks. Raymond James Financial, Inc. will provide $13.2 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credit equity allocated by New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR). The Office of Mental Retardation and Development Disabilities, the Orange County Department of Social Services, Section 8 and private pay sources represent additional funding sources for the apartments.

The set aside at Sunrise Apartments will be 50 percent for special needs individuals, with the remaining apartments reserved for low- and moderate-income people who qualify.  “With Sunrise Apartments, the Scotchtown community will soon have a sprawling new complex providing much-needed affordable housing and supportive services to families and individuals with disabilities,” Olcott says.

“We are excited to continue our successful working relationship with Jonah Mandelbaum and to work with Occupations, Inc. to help families with special needs in a location with access to immediate support and employment services that will foster independent, fulfilling lives.”