MOORHEAD - Despite steady rainfall, the mood was upbeat as a few dozen people gathered Monday, Oct. 17, for the groundbreaking of a 43-unit apartment building for the homeless in north Moorhead.
"It's not a shelter. It is permanent housing," said Lisa Rotvold of Beyond Shelter, the nonprofit developer of the $8.5 million building. "We're just trying to set families up for success."
The feelings of residents who live near the site at 3305 3rd Ave. N. were not quite as buoyant. Many of them remain firmly opposed to the controversial project, known as Bright Sky Apartments, fearing that it will bring a rise in crime and a drop in property values. Some are even planning to sell their homes.
Construction of the three-story complex will start in the coming days and is expected to be done by the end of next summer, said Lisa Lipari of Churches United for the Homeless, the group that proposed the project.
The complex, which will have support services for tenants, is mostly funded through government loans, as well as private investments and donations. It will have 22 single-resident units and the rest will be two-, three- and four-bedroom units.
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Mai Nguyen's backyard borders the empty lot where the apartments will be built. The 58-year-old, who lives in the Arbor Park neighborhood, was upset to learn that construction was beginning so soon.
"You don't know what kind of people they're going to bring in to live in there," she said. "It's not like they're all bad, but you don't know."
Nguyen said she's always allowed her grandchildren to play in the grassy lot behind her house. But because of safety concerns, she doesn't plan to let them do that once tenants move in.
Lipari said the Bright Sky complex will have 24-hour security; tenants will be screened to ensure they qualify for housing assistance; and sex offenders won't be eligible.
"It's likely to be one of the safest apartment buildings in the Fargo-Moorhead area," she said.
Nguyen said she worries what the complex will mean for the value of her house. She said she knows of four neighbors who have sold their homes because of the project. "And I'm going to be the fifth one."
Jim Hoffman, who lives around the corner from Nguyen, said he and his wife will be moving out in a few years once his daughter finishes high school. "It's frustrating, but there's nothing you can do," he said of the apartment building.
Churches United operates a shelter at 1901 1st Ave. N. in Moorhead that's been at capacity for years and has had to turn people away. Hoffman, 43, said he recognizes the need for housing for the homeless, but doesn't want it in his backyard.
"I would never let my daughter walk past Churches United (shelter) in the middle of the night," he said. "It's a bad part of town, and that's how I envision this" apartment building.
While there hasn't been any local research showing how a complex like this affects property values, Rotvold said, studies elsewhere show that prices remain stable or increase slightly. "There's just really not any data that backs up property values going down," she said.
The Moorhead City Council initially opposed the complex when it was first proposed in 2014, but later reversed that position. The council gave its final approval in July.
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Vern Wevley, a retiree who lives with his wife in Arbor Park, said it seemed that he and his neighbors were only notified of the project after Churches United had decided where to build it.
"We didn't have any input beforehand," the 70 year old said. "It was kind of rammed down our throats."
