Woman, 55, has first home thanks to affordable housing project
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A central Ohio non-profit announced the opening of an affordable housing project aimed at helping some of the community’s most vulnerable residents.
Community Housing Network held the grand opening of Poplar Fen, affordable housing for seniors experiencing homelessness or mental health challenges. Forty-four central Ohioans are now safely housed thanks to the project and the work doesn’t stop there.
Poplar Fen is one way central Ohio is trying to address the housing crisis, with one resident who said it changed her life.
"My life has turned around so much," Poplar Fen resident Patricia Tinsley said.
Tinsley struggled with alcoholism and homelessness for years. Then one day, she felt she received a sign: hundreds of birds guiding her to a church.
"They just kept guiding me and I said, ‘Let me go in this church and see what's going on,’” Tinsley said. “And that's when I changed my life. I couldn't keep living the way I was living, being on the streets from place to place.”
From there, a case worker connected her with Community Housing Network and earlier this year, she became one of the residents in the Poplar Fen project.
“I put the key in that lot for the first time, because this is my very, very first owned place ever and I'm 55 years old," Tinsley said.
Poplar Fen houses 44 seniors and connects them with resources to stay healthy and in their homes.
"We have an aging population and we have a lot of individuals who are suffering from mental health disorders and other disabilities, and it's just so important that we provide housing, a basic need to everyone who is in need of shelter," Community Housing Network CEO Annissa Lambirth-Garrett said.
The project is the result of many community, state and federal partners.
"When you're able to see the entire community come together to open up units of permanent supportive housing, to help our neighbors, it just makes me really proud of this community," Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said.