A Levant-based nonprofit plans to turn a vacant Bangor home into safe, affordable housing for two families who are homeless by next spring using nearly $165,000 in city and county grants.
Design Wall Housing, founded by Robin and Jonathan Sandau, has a dilapidated two-unit home on Smith Street Avenue in Bangor under contract with plans to renovate the building, which has been boarded up for three years.
The nonprofit recently received $140,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds from Bangor as well as $24,500 in pandemic relief funding from Penobscot County to support its work, according to Robin Sandau.
Community Development Block Grant is a federal funding program from the Department of Housing and Urban Development that allows states and communities to financially support developments that aid low- and moderate-income families.
Design Wall Housing’s efforts are gaining speed while local outreach workers connect with people who are living in major encampments in the city with the goal of getting them into permanent housing. A federal disaster relief team taught the group to work with individuals and help them gain housing before closing and cleaning up encampments when it came to Bangor earlier this year.
Despite those efforts, Robin Sandau, who is also a local social worker, said she still sees a need for supportive housing that she hopes Design Wall Housing will meet.
“There is still a huge population of individuals who are living on our streets at the moment,” Sandau said. “Wrapping our tenants with another level of services is really going to make the difference.”
Sandau said she hopes to be able to house one low-income, unsheltered family in a two-bedroom unit by the end of March, then house another family in the three-bedroom unit the following month.
The nonprofit has a team of volunteers that can check on tenants every day to monitor for any damage or issues at the property and make sure people can access any resources they might need. Those resources can include transportation, budgeting assistance, or connections to case managers and mental health services.
Giving people who were previously homeless immediate and frequent support and assistance will help ensure people safely remain in permanent housing, Sandau said.
The families will be expected to pay some undecided rent that will be below market rate, Sandau said. The nonprofit can also accept housing vouchers, as the home will be inspected and certified by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to ensure it is safe.
If Design Wall Housing succeeds, the home will be the first the group has renovated and turned into housing for people in need. While the nonprofit is just getting started, Robin Sandau said she has faith in its mission and work will only grow from here.
“Now we’ll have something to assess in the future, see how it’s working,” she said. “We’ll also have monthly revenue to propel our work forward without having to rely on monthly donations and community support.”
There are two other vacant buildings on the same street that the organization is eyeing for the nonprofit’s next homes.
“We think it’s a mission sent from God, and this is where we need to be,” she said.
