After trying for over eight years to secure funding construction is underway for Lakeview Health Services residential facility in Macedon. The facility will be a residential apartment building serving individuals in need of mental health services and affordable housing, The project is expected to be finished in January 2017.
The new facility, located on Route 31 in Macedon (near Alderman Road), will have 60 one-bedroom apartments. Thirty of the apartments will be reserved for people who need mental health support services and the other 30 units will be open anyone who is eligible for affordable housing.
Director of the Wayne County Mental Health Department, James Haitz said that Wayne County has needed a facility like this for years and that the new building will be a tremendous help to the county.
“We’re just lacking that sort of housing stock in the county, and this sort of project will really address quite a few individuals who have need for safe, affordable housing with the supports that they really need to help them maintain their independence and stability in the community,” Haitz said. “We think it is going to make a significant difference in mental hygiene.”
According to CEO of Lakeview Health Services Harry Merryman, his group applied for funding in September of 2014, though they first envisioned the project long before that.
“You have to find the right place, and you have to find it at the right time when the funding is available. I think that the stars aligned and we found the place,” Merryman said. “The Town of Macedon has been very supportive and very helpful to us.”
Merryman explained that the funding for the project, which costs north of $12 million, came from three sources: the New York State Office of Mental Health, Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and the NYS Housing Trust Fund Program. According to him, over 100 programs applied for the tax credits and only 25 to 30 of them were awarded funds.
Lakeview will begin advertising for applications sometime this spring, according to Merryman. Rental rates for the units haven’t yet been determined. Haitz noted that the rates will be based on what is deemed a fair price for affordable housing in the area, and those rates will have to be approved by the state.
Along with providing support for those who need it, Merryman and Haitz also feel that the apartments will help stimulate the local economy by creating some jobs and bringing in new consumers.
“This is really a major economic boon to the economy, in terms of the $12 million project coming here,” Haitz said. “The people living in the building will be consumers of goods and services in the community too and that contributes to the economic stimulus in the area.”
From the early stages of the planning, when they first envisioned building a facility like this, Merryman said that most of the properties they looked at were along Route 31 because of its central location and access to public transportation.
Lakeview Health Services is headquartered in Geneva and they currently serves six counties in the region. In 2011, they opened similar apartments in Seneca Falls.
Both Merryman and Haitz commended the Town of Macedon for being very supportive of the project. Though the overall reaction has been positive, they said there were a few people who voiced concerns during public hearings on the project.
“There was a little bit of concern on the part of two or three folks who spoke, both at the size of the building, and some people can be a little bit nervous about the special needs populations who may be housed in the building,” Merryman recalled.
“Our experience has been – in other areas where we operate facilities – that as the neighbors and the community get to know us, over time people become pretty comfortable.”
Although it has taken a long time to see their vision become a reality, Haitz is glad that they will finally be able to provide support, along with safe and affordable housing, for those that need it.
“It’s a very competitive process, in terms of the application process for the funding,” Haitz said. “We were fortunate, because we’re a rural community, and there are other major areas that are competing with us that certainly have just as much need, if not more. But we have a strong need here, and we were able to demonstrate that to the state.”
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