Innovative Housing Project Designed For People With Disabilities In Howard County

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — A housing project in Howard County has been designed to serve people with disabilities, a concept that is not widely incorporated in developments.

The new Patuxent Commons apartment complex proposed to be built in Columbia's Hickory Ridge community near Cedar Lane and Freetown Road would include 76 affordable housing units for seniors and families with 25 percent of the units set aside for adults with disabilities.

The Howard County Autism Society Housing Task Force has been working to create more living opportunities for a community that society board member Deborah Clutts said is "vastly underserved." According to the society, there is a waiting list for prospective residents at Patuxent Commons.

Priced at $32.6 million to develop, the supportive housing is being spearheaded by the Mission First Housing Group with continued involvement by the society's housing task force. According to the developer, Patuxent Commons has four objectives:

• Address housing instability faced by low-income adults with disabilities, older adults and younger adults/families;
• Enhance social connectedness through building of relationships and community engagement, and reciprocal sharing of social support by neighbors;
• Use housing as a springboard to maximize individual potential and facilitate community integration for people of all ages, abilities and incomes;
• Pioneer a viable, innovative solution to the growing housing crisis facing adults with disabilities that can be adapted elsewhere in Maryland and serve as a model for similar housing developments throughout the United States.

The project site, across the street from the Hickory Ridge Village Center, provides a solid location for this development concept with shopping, employment, recreation and transit opportunities nearby.