Milagro House will own and manage a portion of the affordable housing that HDC MidAtlantic is planning to build at the former St. Joseph Hospital campus on Lancaster's west side, the two organizations announced Wednesday.
The space will be made available to women and their children who are taking part in Milagro House's programs.
Milagro House provides housing, education and life-skills training to women and their children who otherwise would have nowhere to live. The social services nonprofit is across the street from the shuttered hospital's George C. Delp Pavilion, which HDC plans to renovate to create about 50 affordable units.
Milagro House is currently limited to housing just nine women and their families at its building at 669 W. Chestnut St., Executive Director Christina Duncan said.
“We are always at capacity," she said. The partnership with HDC, she said, "presents an exciting opportunity to be part of the creative reuse of this site and gives us the ability to expand the residential capacity of our program. This means we are able to give more women and their children a pathway out of poverty."
The two organizations said they have signed a memorandum of understanding, and that the specifics of the arrangement "are still being defined."
“We are excited to partner with Milagro House because we share the critical vision of helping vulnerable families stabilize as they transition away from homelessness," HDC MidAtlantic President and CEO Dana Hanchin said.
The redevelopment in and around the hospital campus is expected to yield the greatest increase in affordable housing in decades. HDC, a local housing nonprofit, is collaborating with for-profit partner Washington Place Equities.
Plans call for HDC to build a 64-unit multi-family affodable housing projet at The Apartments at College Avenue, followed by the roughly 50-unit Delp project.
The third phase would be a 46- to 50-unit property at 838 Marietta Ave., now a parking lot. Last month, City Council approved spending just under $1 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to buy the property.
