Construction is now in progress for the Wynn Terrace Senior Cottage Community, an innovative affordable rental housing development designed for Arlington residents aged 55 and up.

Located in the 2000 block of Wynn Terrace in East Arlington, the new “micro-community” will boast a dozen attractive one-bedroom homes under 600 square feet, each built to high-level energy performance standards, with half of the units reserved at below-market rental prices for seniors who meet lower-income guidelines. Other community amenities include individual patios, a landscaped community gathering space, and covered parking.

Design and construction costs for the Wynn Terrace project are estimated at $1.5 million, which will be subsidized in part by $650,000 in federal Home Investments Partnerships funding. The new homes are expected to be available for rent by the summer of 2024.

Tarrant County-based non-profit Housing Channel is the lead developer for the project, working in collaboration with the City of Arlington (the previous owner of the once vacant lot where the new homes will be constructed) and UTA’s College of Architecture Public Planning and Administration (CAPPA). Other project contributors and donors include Acme Brick, Builders First Source, Ambit Polyurethane, Kelly Moore, Huber Engineered Woods, James Hardie Siding, and Tamlyn.

Donna VanNess, president of Housing Channel, said that the Wynn Terrace development will address a segment of the community that is particularly affected by the growing affordable housing crisis: older residents.

According to the Texas Affiliation of Affordable Housing Providers, the median income for Texas seniors on a fixed income is $25,601, but a renter must earn $46,889 annually to afford the current fair market rent of $1,172 for a two-bedroom apartment, she said.

“With a majority of their fixed income spent on increasing rent prices, seniors are now ‘aging into poverty,’ living one crisis away from eviction and homelessness due to lack of affordable housing options.”

The Wynn Terrace Senior Cottage Community is the latest achievement connected to the ongoing partnership between the City of Arlington and Housing Channel, a 32-year-old community organization dedicated to increasing access to affordable housing.

“To be a world-class city, it is essential to have sustainable and affordable housing. This creates viable neighborhoods, which foster community. All the benefits accrue to the city and in turn to all of society,” City Council District 5 Representative Rebecca Boxall said. “A diversity of housing types is crucial to achieving these goals and Wynn Terrace is a great example.”

Since the mid-2000s, Housing Channel has administered more than $4 million in federal funding to further the City’s affordable housing efforts, including distribution of down payment and closing cost assistance for low and moderate-income first-time homebuyers, rehabilitation of existing housing stock, construction of new single-family subdivisions, and free foreclosure prevention counseling and homeownership education for Arlington residents.
VanNess said that the organizations powering the Wynn Terrace development hope the project will be studied and replicated in other areas of Arlington and across the region.

“There is often negativity around the term ‘affordable housing,’ but the fact is that increased access to affordable housing benefits everyone, in the form of reduced homelessness and transiency, community members who have money back in their pockets they can spend with local businesses, and reduction of neighborhood blight,” said VanNess. “Innovative thinking, collaboration, and effective public policy are essential to addressing this critical community need.”

About the Housing Channel

Housing Channel is a leading housing nonprofit organization in North Texas with a more than 30-year history of revitalizing neighborhoods and providing quality affordable housing opportunities for low to moderate income families and individuals with special housing needs. At Housing Channel, our goal is to help people build wealth through homeownership. We create educated and empowered homeowners to lift neighborhoods and strengthen communities. Click here for more information.