By Thea Jarvis

Catholic Housing Initiatives has proposed a plan to provide affordable housing to low-and moderate-income senior citizens in Forsyth County and surrounding areas.

Good Shepherd Place, a planned complex of 48 one- and two-bedroom apartments on 12 acres of land in Cumming, is currently under review by the Archdiocesan Planning and Development Council, the Archdiocesan Finance Committee and the Priests’ Council. The units have already been approved for funding by the Georgia Housing Finance Authority, the Appalachian Regional Commission, HomeTrust Bank of Georgia and the Georgia Housing Trust Fund.

Catholic Housing Initiatives is contributing most of its development fees to the project. CHI is one of four corporations within the archdiocesan Secretariat for Social Concerns. Others are Catholic Social Services, the Village of St. Joseph and Catholic Personal Care Homes.

To qualify for housing at Good Shepherd Place, residents must be 55 years of age or older. In the case of married couples, at least one spouse must be 55. Rents for a one-bedroom, 540 square-foot apartment are projected at under $350. Two-bedroom units are set to rent at just over $450. Utilities will be paid by the renters.

Land for the proposed housing, located on Canton Highway, was purchased in December 1991. According to Faye Landey, director of Catholic Housing Initiatives, the picturesque site is easily accessible and convenient to shopping.

“It is a wonderful location, within walking distance of grocery and drug stores – a beautiful, wooded lot,” she said.

If approved by the archdiocese, the apartments could be completed by the close of 1993.

Steve Brazen, the Secretary for Social Concerns, said the proposed housing would be “our first attempt” at an independent living model for seniors. Catholic Personal Care Homes offers expanded care for elderly who are unable to live on their own.

Good Shepherd Place would be outfitted with easy access doors, call systems and a community center. Rural Social Services’ outreach in Cumming, The Place, would extend its range of social services – counseling, visitation, transportation and food assistance – to apartment residents.

“We hope it would be a senior citizen resource center also,” Ms. Landey explained, making information on where and how to obtain needed services available to residents.

Sister Kathryn Cliatt, OP, program director at The Place, said Good Shepherd should, at least for the present, answer a need that was apparent five years ago, when people began asking Rural Social Services for assistance in finding affordable housing.

“It will be a significant help” to older people on a limited budget, she indicated.

In the 17 years she has been at The Place, Sister Cliatt has seen little improvement in the plights of the rural population she serves. Suburban sprawl and the proximity of Lake Lanier have been good for Forsyth County in general, she said, but bad for working class people and poor on welfare.

As the metro population has moved north, land values and housing costs have skyrocketed. Farmers face higher taxes, making it harder to hold on to small family farms.

“Affordable housing is shrinking rapidly,” Sister Cliatt said, while “the cost of living is rising.”

Low- and moderate-income people are in a housing market which is targeting middle management business people and their families. Just behind The Place, Sister Cliatt said, $70,000 to $100,000 homes are being constructed.

“No one builds for under that,” she said, since it is the average price of housing in the area.

Good Shepherd Place is desperately needed, she feels. From her perspective, it is an idea whose time has come.

“It is a very good project, with excellent volunteers, excellent expertise” behind it, Sister Cliatt said. “I just know it will be built.”

Planning for Good Shepherd, according to Brazen, has been “a very complicated project.” There is no archdiocesan subsidy involved; the apartments must be self-supporting. He expects the facility to operate on a break-even basis after 12 to 15 months of operation.

Financial backing for Good Shepherd will come solely from the Appalachian Regional Commission, which has approved a grant for site work, HomeTrust Bank of Georgia, which will hold the first mortgage, Georgia Housing Trust Fund, which will hold the second mortgage and the Georgia Housing Finance Authority, which will issue tax credits for the limited partners.

The project, Brazen said, will be owned by North Corners, a limited partnership, with Catholic Housing Initiatives acting as general partner. CHI contributed most of its development fee.

If successful, he said, CHI plans to construct other homes to serve diverse populations.

“We’re talking about a creative model for the future. Long-term, CHI is not a single-project corporation,” he explained.

CHI is currently doing a feasibility study of 50 units of low-income elderly housing on the south side of Atlanta on the campus of the Village of Saint Joseph.