July 19, 2018 -- Funding the City of Fort Wayne receives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is being used to demolish a home on the Vincent Village campus and build a new one in its place. The new energy-efficient three-bedroom Lillie Street home will become part of Vincent Village’s Community Rental Home Program and will be available to a family that is currently living in the Vincent House Shelter or another area homeless shelter. 

The new home is part of six that are being rehabilitated or built new using the City’s HUD dollars. Local homeless families will move from area shelters into the homes as they are completed. For the families that qualify, the rents are based off a gradual increase over a five-year period as they reach greater self-sufficiency; the rent is offset by private donations.

“Thanks to a great partnership between the City and Vincent Village, we are addressing homelessness one person and one family at a time,” said Mayor Henry. “By working together, we are making a meaningful difference in this neighborhood and in our community.”

“It is the partnership with the City of Fort Wayne that has allowed us to continue to both expand and maintain the highest level of energy efficiency in our agency owned rental homes on our campus,” said Denise Andorfer, executive director of Vincent Village. “It’s imperative that we provide affordable housing to families coming out of area shelters that also include intensive wrap-around services to ensure they don’t become homeless again. Our five-year transitional rental home program is an innovative approach to addressing the underlying causes of homelessness.”

The City of Fort Wayne’s Office of Housing & Neighborhood Services provided approximately $500,000 in Federal HUD funds. Because Vincent Village is a certified CHDO (Community Housing Development Organization), the agency qualified for the funding. The City has funded other Vincent Village housing projects over the last decade and continues to help the agency move residents from homelessness to self-sufficiency.

Vincent Village works to alleviate homelessness by providing shelter, care, advocacy, affordable housing and supportive services for homeless families. The agency owns 35 single family homes, which includes 37 units for families exiting the Vincent House or other area transitional or emergency shelters.

The homes that were or are being rehabilitated were/are in need of substantial repairs, such as new windows, roofs, wiring, flooring, and heating and cooling systems. The house that was demolished on Lillie Street was determined to have too much structural damage, so it is being replaced with a new home. All the homes were originally built in the 1920s, are currently owned by Vincent Village and are located in the Oxford Neighborhood south of Pontiac Street.