Charlotte Apartments to be rehabbed for veteran housing

Midtown’s latest housing development project is not targeted at Wayne State students or young urban pioneers. Detroit Central City Community Mental Health, Inc. (DCC) will be renovating the vacant Charlotte Apartments at 644 Charlotte in Midtown, which will serve as housing for veterans, homeless, and people with disabilities.
 
DCC is a nonprofit agency that has been in Midtown for over 40 years providing outpatient psychiatric services and more to the homeless, special needs, and mentally ill.

"Really we’re in the old Cass Corridor where a lot of people are still homeless," says Henrietta Warren, Vice President of DCC. "Over the years we have been increasing our housing abilities. Because of the large number of consumers we see who are also vets, we really have an interest in providing safe and affordable housing for them." Warren says that of the 4,000 people DCC serves annually, approximately 40 percent are homeless.

The $6.1 million project will create 27 one-bedroom units in the historic Charlotte Apartments. The building itself was built in 1920, but has sat vacant for at least the last 10 years. The project is being funded by City of Detroit HOME Funds, MSHDA low-income housing tax credits, and Brownfield Tax Credits, plus $300,000 from the Home Depot Foundation, which earmarks a portion of the foundation’s annual gift money specifically for vet housing. Joe Early of Early Construction, who originally purchased the building from Wayne County, is a partner in the development.

The complex will have a community room, computer lab, library, meeting rooms, and a common laundry room. The units will serve veterans, homeless, and those with "severe and persistent mental illness," which will enable DCC "to provide easy access to mental health services as well as affordable housing." Veterans will be given the first opportunity to obtain housing.

Construction is slated to begin in May and will take about a year to complete. 

Source: Henrietta Warren, Vice President of Detroit Central City Community Mental Health, Inc.
Writer: Nicole Rupersburg

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