Hazen Community Development hoping to pursue senior housing project
By Daniel Arens
The City of Hazen is pursuing the possibility of renovating and rehabilitating the Pioneer Park Home into 36 units of senior low-income housing. Hazen Community Development (HCD) acquired the building, which is now a vacant home, and is seeking grant funding to help pay for the new renovations.
The planned senior housing would contain 10 single-room and two additional smaller efficiency apartments, all of which would be available to seniors. Further construction on the facility could add 10 new single-room apartments, four two-bedroom apartments, and three or four apartments for essential workers, such as city employees, teachers, and medical providers.
Joe Armstrong, a development coordinator from Multifamily Capital Resources, has been working with HCD on grant writing for various projects for the last year and a half. Regarding the Pioneer Park Home, he is helping the City of Hazen to prepare an application for a share in the Housing Incentive Fund. Buster Langowski, executive director of the HCD, said Armstrong’s involvement in the project is significant.
“He has been a great asset to myself personally because he has a vast amount of knowledge relative to housing issues,” Langowski said.
