.png){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}
AICDC to open Elder Care Facility in Minneapolis
August 27, 2010
By Sheila Regan
The American Indian Community Development Corporation along with Common Bond Communities have been awarded $6.78 million from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for an affordable housing project geared toward serving American Indian Elders. Work is expected to begin on Bii Di Gain Dash Anwebi (Come in, Rest) in the spring.
The money comes from HUD’s Section 202 Housing for the Elderly Program, according to Michael Goze, President and CEO of AICDC.
Bii Di Gain Dash Anwebi will house 47 one-bedroom apartments designed for elders 62 and older whose income does not exceed 50 percent of the metropolitan median household income, according to Goze. Residents will be expected to pay one-third of their income for rent.
Resources in the facility will include computers, information and referral and community services. Health and wellness services will also be offered on the site, which will be located at Bloomington Avenue and 24th Street in Minneapolis. The facility will be open to everyone, but will be specifically marketed to the American Indian community.
Goze said that he presented the idea for an elder housing facility to the Elders Advisory Council through Elders Services about a year ago, and that the quick progress on the project has been unprecedented. He said that since he first started work for AICDC, American Indians living in Minneapolis had wanted their own elder care facility (Saint Paul has the Elders Lodge, which opened in 1990). Goze said that he asked Jackie Dionne, Aging Services Specialist with the Minnesota Board on Aging’s American Indian Elder Desk, about the possibility of such a facility, and he found that she and other advisory council members supported the idea.
In his first conversations with HUD, staff suggested that AICDC partner with a development firm that has a firm track record for developing affordable housing. After interviewing several different firms, AICDC partnered with Common Bond Communities, who had several successful projects developing and managing HUD 202 housing. “It’s been a very good partnership throughout the process,” Goze said.
Besides funding from HUD, the project has received support from the City of Minneapolis, the Neighborhood Renewal Program, and East Phillips and Midtown Phillips neighborhoods. Goze said that AICDC has received encouragement from U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, as well as Congressman Keith Ellison. “The support as come all the way from the community level to the top,” Goze said.
