-r Christine Traczyk (TD Bank Community Development, CT & MA) and New Neighborhoods Housing Development Team: John W. Kukulka (NNI Director of Housing Development), Michael Kepple, Cathleen Miller.
To help address a housing problem with economic and social implications for our communities, TD Bank through its charitable giving arm, the TD Charitable Foundation, has awarded nonprofit housing developer New Neighborhoods, Inc. (NNI) a $7,500 grant to support its housing development and preservation activities. NNI, the oldest active community-based developer and manager of workforce housing in Stamford and Fairfield County, CT, has created and preserved more than 400 units of affordable rental and ownership housing for young families and for the elderly, and helped countless families make the move from NNI rental housing to home ownership and economic self-sufficiency since 1967.
With median income for a family of four at $122,300 in the greater Stamford-Norwalk region, thousands of single parents, the elderly, recent grads and mid-career men and women with families with incomes that can’t keep pace with the cost of housing are left with few acceptable options: overextend themselves to put a roof over their head or leave families and jobs in Fairfield County and Connecticut and put down roots where available housing is more in line with income.
To address this persistent housing crisis, NNI has targeted the development, preservation, redevelopment and rehabilitation of housing for those earning from 10 – 80% of median income as a priority. The nonprofit developer has several low and moderate income housing developments in the pipeline, including a 56-unit affordable rental property in Norwalk, a 50-unit low rise and townhome development in Stamford’s South End neighborhood, and is in the midst of a $23 million renovation of the affordable 121-unit Friendship House rental on Stamford’s West Side.
“We welcome the Foundation’s investment in Fairfield County and in New Neighborhoods in particular,” said NNI President & CEO Ross Burkhardt. “The grant will help underwrite housing production and predevelopment costs which means we can complete projects sooner and at rents and purchase prices that are affordable by more people.”
The TD Charitable Foundation is the charitable giving arm of TD Bank N.A., which operates as TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank, and is one of the 15 largest commercial banking organizations in the United States. The Foundation's mission is to serve the individuals, families and businesses in all the communities where TD Bank operates, having made over $56 million in charitable donations since its inception in 2002. The efforts of the Foundation are coordinated locally through TD Bank's community relations departments and are focused on the areas of affordable housing, education and financial literacy, and the environment. More information on the TD Charitable Foundation, including an online grant application, is available at www.TDBank.com.
For information about the state of affordable housing in Fairfield County and New Neighborhoods, Inc. initiatives, call (203) 359-2215 or visit NNI online at www.nnistamford.org.
