Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development Secretary Jake Day and staff attended the Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition’s annual Secretary’s Breakfast to announce this year’s Housing Awards and promote the ongoing partnership between DHCD and the Coalition. Additionally, Secretary Day highlighted Governor Wes Moore’s 2024 Housing Package, which is a part of the Moore-Miller Administration’s effort to make Maryland more affordable.

South Lakes High School STEAM Team has extended its community engagement to Hunters Woods Fellowship House in Reston. The MFA designed art gallery at Hunters Woods Fellowship House in Reston, VA has been a huge hit with the residents and community alike! Local South Lakes HS STEAM Team students have extended its community engagement to include an ongoing collaborative art program aimed at curating exhibits for the facility’s new gallery space.

Sass Magazine’s editorial team selected the Top Women in the Home Industry including MFA’s Elizabeth Chan!

AIA Potomac Valley (AIAPV) welcomes two MAPP alumni as members of the Emerging Professional Awards Program (EPAP) Class of 2024. Nicholas DiBella (B.A. Architecture ‘20, M.ARCH ‘22) and Duong Le, Associate AIA (B.S. Architecture ‘22), join three other talented design leaders who participated in its annual competition. The five recipients were selected from a pool of 19 emerging professional nominees by a jury of AIAPV Fellows, based on an evaluation of their leadership potential. They were honored on October 19, 2023, at AIAPV’s Design + Leadership Awards.

Stephen Rudow – AGM Financial Services, Inc. is excited to announce the successful closure of a $15,000,000 mortgage for the extensive renovation of Marywood Apartments, benefiting the residents for many years to come. This remarkable project will provide for $68,000/unit in rehabilitation to this 129-unit, age-restricted community with 100% Section-8 housing in Manassas, Virginia. The 40-year FHA insured loan was made using the Section 221(d)(4) program providing long term fixed rate construction / permanent debt. The four-story, elevator-served building includes extensive amenities such as a large multipurpose community room, fitness room, hair salon, library, impressive pottery studio, laundry room, and meeting spaces on every floor.

The Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA) participated in financing to support preservation and renovation of 87 units of deeply affordable family-size apartments at Snowden’s Ridge. APAH, a nonprofit developer headquartered in Arlington, VA, acquired Snowden’s Ridge in 2019 to preserve a deeply affordable rental community. The 87-unit complex will maintain in-place housing choice vouchers for all residents, making it accessible to families at 30 percent or below the area median income (AMI). The property, located at 2035 Harlequin Terrace, Silver Spring, held its grand reopening celebration Friday. This is APAH’s first property in Montgomery County, as well as the State of Maryland.

On Monday, December 13th, SOME (So Others Might Eat), an interfaith, community-based service organization supporting residents in our nation’s capital experiencing homelessness and poverty, came together to hold the dedication of SOME’s Karin House in honor of Karin Akerson. Karin Akerson and her family were long time advocates and supporters of SOME. This property will provide 40 seniors with newly renovated apartments on the historic Walter Reed campus in Washington, D.C. Karin House will offer efficiency units for older adults who earn no more than 30% family median income (FMI)

We talk with the president of the MHP about the 20 years of work he has done bringing affordable housing to our region. Started in MoCo –and has moved into DC and PG County. This group has provided more than 2200 affordable homes in MoCo and surrounding area-it’s mission is three-fold: Provide housing, empower families and strengthen neighborhoods.

The architect for [the] Anna Cooper Houseis Miner Feinstein Architects and construction was completed by Bozzuto. Anna Cooper House preserves much needed affordable housing in Ward 2, offering single room occupancy for single adults earning no more than 30% family median income (FMI) as well wrap-around supports from SOME’s integrated continuum of care, which includes healthcare, mental health supports, job training and more.

Known as The Parks at Walter Reed, the project is turning the once-cloistered site into a neighborhood for thousands of residents. A large part of the campus —which D.C. acquired from the federal government for $22 million in 2016 —was opened to the public last year for the first time in decades. Three residential buildings have been finished so far: The Brooks, an 89-unit condo building, opened earlier this year and now 60% sold, while The Vale, a neighboring apartment building with 301 units, is starting to lease up this month; a separate building was converted in 2019 to 77 units of housing for veterans experiencing homelessness.

Rendering by Miner Feinstein Architects, LLC. Hunters Woods is one of four Fellowship Square affordable housing properties in the region. The 41-year-old building in Reston offers 225 apartment units serving 300 residents aged 62 and older who live on minimum incomes of approximately $12,000 a year. The preservation project visioned by Miner Feinstein Architects based in Frederick, Md., will include modernization/upgrades of the building inside and out to bring it to contemporary standards of living and improvements in energy efficiency and sustainability, among other items according to Fellowship Square. At the same time, the renovation will respect the 1970s building.

The project, Catoctin View Apartments at 800 Motter Ave., is a renovation of the seven-story building to convert a 100-unit complex into 76 units. Milton Bailey, the county’s director of housing and community development, said before Tuesday’s meeting it is a modernization of the apartments and performing a “gut rehab” of the building.