Twin Pines Housing Trust recently purchased the former Pine Tree Lane and Beechwood Lane apartments — now known as the Village at Crafts Hill — with a $6.8 million loan from the USDA Rural Development program, preserving 88 rent-subsidized units in the Upper Valley. Below is an excerpt from a WCAX report on the story:
Tenants of a low income housing complex in West Lebanon were running out of time and options. They were at risk of losing their homes, but now their worries are now over. “Your homes have been preserved, and they’ve been preserved for the next 30 years,” said Ted Brady, United States Department of Agriculture. Sighs of relief from the tenants of Pine Tree Lane apartments. This was news they thought would never come. “I don’t have to move anything. Thank God,” said Anne Hughes, resident. WCAX first met Hughes in April, just days after she and more than a hundred other tenants of Pine Tree Lane apartments received notes explaining the apartment’s rental assistance contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development was due to expire. By December 31, 2015, Hughes and all of her neighbors, either had to provide full rental payment or move out. “I filled out applications. Waited and waited,” said Hughes. Things weren’t looking up. Hughes said there weren’t many options for her in the Upper Valley. “They all want more than the apartment’s worth and they want a security deposit and they want the first months and the last month’s rent. And I’m on disability, Social Security doesn’t give you a whole lot,” said Hughes. As the December deadline inched closer, many of her neighbors moved out. Hughes says she was starting to lose hope when she got word that someone was looking out for them. “When we heard in April that Pine Tree might be lost as affordable housing, we knew instinctively that we needed to be part of the solution,” said Andrew Winter, Twin Pines Housing Trust. Twin Pines Housing Trust used a $6.7 million USDA loan to purchase the 50-unit Pine Tree Lane and adjacent 50-unit Beechwood Lane apartment complexes. Residents of the two complexes will receive subsidized assistance and be able to stay in their homes. “When a community cares enough about their own well-being, their own safety and protection and their own home and hearth to come together to save it, I’m just proud to be a part of that,” said Rep. Ann Kuster, D-New Hampshire. The name of the complex will change. It will be called the “Village at Crafts Hill.” Residents who currently live there, like Hughes, will have to update their addresses. She says compared to losing her home, that’s a minor inconvenience. “This is beyond awesome,” said Hughes.
To view the full story, including video, click here. For the Valley News report, click here.