Luther House Foundation of Southern Chester County could potentially expand into Kennett Township, offering affordable housing for area seniors
By P.J. D’Annunzio Staff Writer, Kennetttimes.com
Louis Wonderly addresses the audiance at the Kennett Township Board of Supervisors meeting Monday night.
KENNETT — The increased cost of living in the current economic climate is affecting everyone, and not surprisingly the demographic that has been hardest hit is the nation’s senior citizens.
Many seniors feeling the fiscal pinch depend on their income for medicine as well as the increasing costs of food, utilities, and gasoline. Many choose to move into independent living communities to lessen the strain of aging, but those who are overburdened financially do not have this option.
That’s where Luther House comes in.
Luther house is an affordable senior living complex located in Jennersville. Established in 2001, it is comprised of four buildings with 256 apartments, sitting on 16 acres of land adjacent to the Jenner’s Pond retirement community. All buildings were built with HUD and other government financing.
“This is the best use of government money I’ve ever seen,” former Luther House Foundation President Louis Wonderly said at Monday’s Kennett Township Board of Supervising meeting.
Wonderly is spearheading the initiative to bring affordable living to seniors by expanding Luther House into Kennett Township.
“When the last building [in Jennersville] was completed in 2008 we made a call to the Kendal Corporation and they were interested in partnering with us,” Wonderly said, “We’ve had a very good relationship with them where we have been working to find suitable land in the Kennett area.”
Several areas have already been scoped out by Luther House and Kendal for the proposed facilities, however since the project is still in the planning phase, no settlement has been reached.
Architecturally the new facilities would closely resemble those of the Luther House units in Jennersville. “We would like to see a maximum of two buildings, 58 units each, on this property,” Wonderly stated.
However, acquiring the necessary government funding for construction this time around will prove problematic at best for Wonderly and Luther House.
“It has been a struggle to get the money every time…we had to institute our own letter writing campaign to Congress and ask them to get the money because the present administration did not have any funding for this type of housing,” Wonderly said.
Qualification for residency at Luther House is based on income. Applicants who make less than $25,000 per year gross are considered for residency. Rent runs from $500-$600 a month including utilities. Because of the low rent, the waiting list for units is considerably lengthy, currently backed up for at least a year. Naturally, those who have secured a spot are grateful for the opportunity.
“It’s been a blessing for me and my wife,” Luther House resident Dominic Mangerelli said, “We both have medical problems and we feel very secure there. I can’t say enough good things about it.”
The plan is set to progress in the coming months; communication with HUD, the Federal Government, and the township all slated to continue.
“If everything works to our advantage; we get approval on this zoning, and we’re able to secure this land, we do intend to apply next year for the money,” Wonderly said. “It may happen, it may not, but all we can do is take this first step and make sure we are trying to satisfy a very small segment of a real need in southern ChesterCounty.”
