Monthly Archives: August 2021

Arise Detroit

Arise Detroit will celebrate its 15th annual Neighborhoods Day Aug.7. Across the city, more than 150 community groups, block clubs and improvement projects will host a wide range of events for residents. Festivities will adhere to federal safety protocols regarding COVID-19 for the second year in a row. All events will take placeoutdoors.

Luther Keith, the executive director and founder of Arise Detroit,says it will be a special day for residents throughout the city. The organizations that participate are are engaged in many facets of community life aimed at making a difference in thecity.

One thing Id like to emphasize that Neighborhoods Day, though its one day, it really reflects what people in the neighborhoods do throughout the year, hesays.

We have some neighborhoods of Detroit that are really challenged in a lot of ways, economically with blight. We need a resurgence of this city economically, jobs for people, education generally, looking at the quality of life, a safer city. Luther Keith, AriseDetroit

These organizations and projects have always been there but havent been showcased,Keith says.In founding Arise Detroit, Keith, a journalist, says he was intentional about the organization being a vehicle to lift up and showcase the work of these communitygroups.

What I found out back when I was a columnist is that a lot of people dont know what [these groups are] doing, or they dont get the publicity. And we needed a vehicle to lift up andshowcase.

People also werent aware of all of the organizations and activitiesin the city, and by highlighting the work these groups are doing, it might inspire others to do the same in theircommunities.

Weve been able to simply tap into that. If more people learn about it, more people say, well, why cant we do this in our neighborhood? Why dont we have a Black Friday? Why dont we have a neighborhood cleanup? Why dont we have a school supply giveaway? And so by seeing that, it inspires other people and thats how [Neighborhoods Day] hasgrown.

Looking ahead at where Neighborhoods Day will be in 5-10 years, Keith says its not just about Neighborhoods Day but the city as a whole. We have some neighborhoods of Detroit that are really challenged in a lot of ways, economically with blight, he says. We need a resurgence of this city economically, jobs for people, education generally, looking at the quality of life, a safercity.

WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.

Donate today

Link:

Communities Across Detroit Will Show Pride During the 15th Annual Arise Detroit Neighborhoods Day - WDET

With the approach of the Aug. 3 primary election, nonprofitRising Voices seeks to empower metro Detroits Asian American community through voter outreach and education. To amplify their mission,the organization teamed up with artist andphotographer Jarod Lew to create a historical record of the regions Asian American communities. The current collaboration is a continuation of their Rising Voices Amplify project, which profiled leaders and residents across the state dedicated to organizing and uplifting the voices of Asian American women andcommunities.

Through imagery,audio stories and videos, the multimedia venture is intentional on documenting Asian American leaders in community and politics throughoutMichigan.

Jarod Lew, courtesy of Rising Voices

Marcia Lee with her family one of Jarod Lews subjects for the Rising VoicesAmplifyproject.

Its interesting, here in Michigan. We have a very unique Asian American history and community versus others, says Jasmine Rivera, digital communications organizer of Rising Voices. So going to the various organizational leaders who are part of the community centers and who have been involved in activism and uplifting their own communities, thats something we wanted to amplify andcelebrate.

Lews photography examines theAsian American experience in metro Detroitthrough the lens ofcommunity, identity and displacement. While his subject matter gained attention from the art community,collaborating with Rising Voices welcomed a mental shift to also center his intentions on giving back to Detroit in a powerful way that lifts upvoices.

It has to be done, he says. As Im photographing and collecting these images and stories, I think its a necessity since were so dispersed. As more generations of Asian Americans are living in Michigan, there has to be a resource of information to showcase where were at. I think the common conversation here in Michigan is, Where arewe?

With Rising Voices, the goal is to show just that the thriving and presence of Asian Americans throughoutMichigan.

Learn more about the projecthere.

WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.

Donate today

View original post here:

Rising Voices Amplify Centers the Stories of Metro Detroit's Asian American Communities - WDET

The Minneapolis-St. Paul region is set to receive $1.14 billion from the American Rescue Plan, which local leaders say should be used to close the racial wealth gap that has existed for far too long.

The Center for Economic Inclusion held a virtual panel and discussion Thursday on strategies and opportunities that would aid in distributing funds in a way that eliminates long-existing gaps in the immediate and long-term future.

Earlier this year, the American Rescue Plan was signed into law. It directs $1.9 trillion toward rescuing the nations economy from pandemic-related fallout. Its funding a nationwide vaccine program, personal stimulus checks, increases in the child tax credit, small-business support, extended unemployment insurance and more.

As we recovered from the last economic downturn, Minnesotans, in particularly this region, failed miserably at doing so in an inclusive way, according to the Urban Institute, who ranked Minneapolis and St Paul last in a record of 274 cities in our ability to ensure that all people moved forward and are coming forward out of that economy, said Tawanna Black, CEO and founder of the Center for Economic Inclusion.

The rescue plan was design in a way that elevates solutions that address the pandemics disproportionate impact on low-income communities and communities of color, said Joseph Parilla, a fellow with the Brookings Institutions Metropolitan Policy Program.

The funds are being distributed in two rounds. An estimated two-thirds of funding from the first round, which was distributed in the spring, went to public health, stabilizing government budgets, and housing and homelessness, he said.

Several priorities could be funded in the second round of the rescue plan which is set to be distributed next spring that elevate inclusive rebuilding momentum. To achieve this, funds should be direct to stabilizing and improving the upward mobility of low-income communities, like funding programs that close the digital divide, Parilla said. Additionally, money could help secure a better rebuilding of the economy by being directed toward initiatives that fund workforce services, emergency financial assistance, and the racially equitable creation of jobs.

Being inclusive goes beyond funding and planning, said Aarica Coleman, housing and redevelopment authority administrator for the city of Bloomington.

Governments need to work with organizations, nonprofit and for-profit leaders who are already established in the communities to reach other community members, Coleman said.

The first thing is to make sure that just as the country and this region has been intentional about excluding and extracting, lets be intentional about including and growing, she said.

Government entities can also use the funding to lay a foundation for how they operate in the future, while also being more innovative and creative in their solutions for challenges identified in a citys long-term comprehensive plan. For example, in the housing sector, city staff in charge of housing or zoning decisions may have more resources to look at creative solutions to housing shortages, like tiny homes, Coleman said.

In his work with other Minnesota mayors, Edina Mayor James Hovland said he found that they recognize the need for communities to pool resources when planning for the distribution of rescue plan funds. Their communities have shared interests, like housing, workforce development and racial equity.

If we can really leverage these resources, we can really make some significant inroads, he said.

But local governments likely want to stabilize their budget problems first. Once these problems are solved, local governments could establish networks between other local entities to target issues that challenge numerous communities. This is where the second round of rescue plan funding could come into play, Hovland said.

We can create these pooled resources, particularly out of that second [round], I think where people are going to feel more comfortable committing some of that to the common good and to develop a strategy that gets all boats rising, he said.

Related:

MN leaders reflect on missed Legislative opportunities

Read more from the original source:

Panelists urge inclusion focus in American Rescue Plan - Finance and Commerce

Climate change is the kind of problem that requires a massive, coordinated effort from everyone. No one person, group or country can solve it on their own because our collective actions perpetuate the problem. So, we need to work together, come up with a game plan, get on the same page about what were going to do and make the necessary changes to those collective actions.

Admittedly, this is easier said than done. Even if we all could agree on what needs to happen say, moving away from fossil fuels by electrifying everything and powering our society with clean renewable energy there are still a lot of unanswered questions. (How do we ensure that this massive transition will be fair? How do we protect against creating winners and losers? How do we give everyone access to the clean air, good jobs and electricity savings benefits of the new clean energy economy?)

These are the questions that the NAACP has decided its time to answer.

As one of the most well-known, historically impactful, civil rights organizations in the country, when the NAACP calls attention to an issue, we all better pay attention.

Eco-apartheid

In 2008, CNN analyst Van Jones wrote in his book The Green Collar Economy, that it is not too early to sound the alarm against the possibility of eco-apartheid. In that scenario, on one side of town, there would be ecological haves, enjoying access to healthy, morally upstanding green products and services. On the other side of town, ecological have-nots would be languishing in the smoke, fumes, toxic chemicals, and illness of the old pollution-based economy.

Unfortunately, his words were not heeded, and over a decade later, his fears are coming to fruition.

A 2019 study from Tufts and UC Berkeley found massive disparities of where solar energy is deployed based on race and ethnicity. Communities of color have a greatly diminished amount of solar deployed compared to their neighbors. African American communities are less likely to have solar than white communities by a factor of two-thirds, even after accounting for income disparity.

On the job front, a 2019 survey from the Solar Foundation found that the solar workforce is 73 percent white (and 74 percent male).

Tufts University professor Deborah Sunter, a lead author of the report, described the inequity like this: Unlike the fossil fuel industry, where energy injustice was attributed to exposure to negative consequences like pollution, with rooftop PV the injustice is more that certain communities are missing out on these economic benefits.

Thankfully, the NAACP has recognized that this injustice must be stopped, and theyve stepped up to fight it, as they have with every major civil rights issue for over a century.

A more equitable path

In 2018, the NAACP, led by Jaqui Patterson, senior director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program, launched the NAACP Solar Equity Initiative to dive into these questions. They brought together leaders from across the solar industry and climate justice advocacy community including SunRun, Solar Energy Industries Association, Vote Solar, Solar United Neighbors, RE-volv, Solstice Initiative, Institute for Local Self Reliance and many more.

The goal of the initiative was to increase solar installations in communities of color and to connect these communities to skills training for solar jobs, all supported by strengthened solar equity policies.

The NAACP recently released its Solar Equity Principles to try and right the ship by helping guide policymakers, industry leaders and communities toward a more equitable path forward. Over many months the group met to discuss and come to a shared understanding of what equitable solar energy policies look like, focusing particularly on the issues of transparency, ownership and accountability. They boiled it down to these eight principles to help advocates and policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels to craft policy solutions that are holistic in nature and ensure benefits flow to Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC), and other frontline communities.

Denise Abdul-Rahman, national field organizer for the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program, said "Low-income and communities of color have suffered disproportionate harm from the fossil fuel economy. The new clean energy economy is an opportunity to address past injustices, but only with intentional policy decisions such as those outlined in the Equitable Solar Policy Principles."

Now while the Biden administration has made addressing environmental justice a key part of its climate strategy with its Justice40 initiative, which intends to allocate 40 percent of the overall benefits of its clean energy and climate solutions strategy to disadvantaged communities, the good news is we dont have to wait for the president to solve this. We can start acting in our communities.

Seeds of change

The 2019 Tufts study I mentioned describes a way to do just that. In the report they found that PV installations often result in a feedback loop: When a few residents in a community get solar, known as seed customers, it compels others to join. Communities without those first-mover customers show delayed solar adoption. The study also found that when seeding does occur in communities of color, deployment significantly increases compared to other racial or ethnic groups.

In other words, if a concerted effort is made to start building solar projects in BIPOC communities now that will have a ripple effect of more solar demand. That means creating jobs, electricity savings, and environmental and health benefits today, regardless of what happens in Washington.

One example of this intentional effort in communities of color is Green the Church, led by Rev. Dr. Ambrose Carroll. The organization brings solar energy and other climate and energy solutions to African American churches around the country.

I felt like the black church needed to have an organization that they felt was their own, where they could talk about environmentalism through different lenses and with different language, he told CNN.

Ultimately, solving the climate crisis will not be solved under the eco-apartheid conditions Van Jones warned us about, which were now seeing unfold. We have to ensure that everyone will benefit from the just clean energy transition and that we are all empowered to be a part of and benefit from these solutions. But that wont happen just by wishing for it.

Like every civil rights battle won in this country, it will need to be hard fought. We must work together, in the ways described by these Equitable Solar Policy Principles, to ensure that the new energy economy doesnt look like the old.

Andreas Karelas is author of the book Climate Courage: How Tackling Climate Change Can Build Community, Transform the Economy, and Bridge the Political Divide in America published by Beacon Press. He is also the founder and executive director of RE-volv, a nonprofit climate justice organization that helps fellow nonprofits across the country go solar. Follow him on Twitter: @AndreasKarelas.

Follow this link:

A clean energy transition won't be equitable unless we make it that way | TheHill - The Hill

When disparate groups convene around a common goal, exciting things can happen.

That is the inspiring story unfolding in Malden, Massachusetts, a city of about 60,000 nearly half people of color where a new type of community coalition continues to gain momentum on its plan to build a climate-resilient waterfront park along its river. The Malden River Works (MRW) project, recipient of the inaugural Leventhal City Prize, is seeking to connect to a contiguous greenway network where neighboring cities already have visitors coming to their parks and enjoying recreational boating. More important, the MRW is changing the model for how cities address civic growth, community engagement, equitable climate resilience, and environmental justice.

The MRWs steering committee consists of eight resident leaders of color, a resident environmental advocate, and three city representatives. One of the committees primary responsibilities is providing direction to the MRWs project team, which includes urban designers, watershed and climate resilience planners, and a community outreach specialist. MITs Kathleen Vandiver, director of the Community Outreach Education and Engagement Core at MITs Center for Environmental Health Sciences (CEHS), and Marie Law Adams MArch 06, a lecturer in the School of Architecture and Plannings Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), serve on the project team.

This governance structure is somewhat unusual, says Adams. More typical is having city government as the primary decision-maker. It is important that one of the first things our team did was build a steering committee that is the decision maker on this project.

Evan Spetrini 18 is the senior planner and policy manager for the Malden Redevelopment Authority and sits on both the steering committee and project team. He says placing the decision-making power with the steering committee and building it to be representative of marginalized communities was intentional.

Changing that paradigm of power and decision-making in planning processes was the way we approached social resilience, says Spetrini. We have always intended this project to be a model for future planning projects in Malden.

This model ushers in a new history chapter for a city founded in 1640.

Located about six miles north of Boston, Malden was home to mills and factories that used the Malden River for power, and a site for industrial waste over the last two centuries. Decades after the citys industrial decline, there is little to no public access to the river. Many residents were not even aware there was a river in their city. Before the project was under way, Vandiver initiated a collaborative effort to evaluate the quality of the rivers water. Working with the Mystic River Watershed Association, Gradient Corporation, and CEHS, water samples were tested and a risk analysis conducted.

Having the study done made it clear the public could safely enjoy boating on the water, says Vandiver. It was a breakthrough that allowed people to see the river as an amenity."

A team effort

Marcia Manong had never seen the river, but the Malden resident was persuaded to join the steering committee with the promise the project would be inclusive and of value to the community. Manong has been involved with civic engagement most of her life in the United States and for 20 years in South Africa.

It wasnt going to be a marginalized, token-ized engagement, says Manong. It was clear to me that they were looking for people that would actually be sitting at the table.

Manong agreed to recruit additional people of color to join the team. From the beginning, she says, language was a huge barrier, given that nearly half of Maldens residents do not speak English at home. Finding the translation efforts at their public events to be inadequate, the steering committee directed more funds to be made available for translation in several languages when public meetings began being held over Zoom this past year.

Its unusual for most cities to spend this money, but our population is so diverse that we require it, says Manong. We have to do it. If the steering committee wasnt raising this issue with the rest of the team, perhaps this would be overlooked.

Another alteration the steering committee has made is how the project engages with the community. While public attendance at meetings had been successful before the pandemic, Manong says they are constantly working to reach new people. One method has been to request invitations to attend the virtual meetings of other organizations to keep them apprised of the project.

Weve said that people feel most comfortable when theyre in their own surroundings, so why not go where the people are instead of trying to get them to where we are, says Manong.

Buoyed by the $100,000 grant from MITs Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism (LCAU) in 2019, the project team worked with Maldens Department of Public Works, which is located along the river, to redesign its site and buildings and to study how to create a flood-resistant public open space as well as an elevated greenway path, connecting with other neighboring cities paths. The parks plans also call for 75 new trees to reduce urban heat island effect, open lawn for gathering, and a dock for boating on the river.

The storm water infrastructure in these cities is old and isnt going to be able to keep up with increased precipitation, says Adams. Were looking for ways to store as much water as possible on the DPW site so we can hold it and release it more gradually into the river to avoid flooding.

The project along the 2.3-mile-long river continues to receive attention. Recently, the city of Malden was awarded a 2021 Accelerating Climate Resilience Grant of more than $50,000 from the states Metropolitan Area Planning Council and the Barr Foundation to support the project. Last fall, the project was awarded a $150,015 Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Action Grant. Both awards are being directed to fund engineering work to refine the projects design.

We and in general, the planning profession are striving to create more community empowerment in decision-making as to what happens to their community, says Spetrini. Putting the power in the community ensures that its actually responding to the needs of the community.

Contagious enthusiasm

Manong says shes happy she got involved with the project and believes the new governance structure is making a difference.

This project is definitely engaging with communities of color in a manner that is transformative and that is looking to build a long-lasting power dynamic built on trust, she says. Its a new energized civic engagement and were making that happen. Its very exciting.

Spetrini finds the challenge of creating an open space thats publicly accessible and alongside an active work site professionally compelling.

There is a way to preserve the industrial employment base while also giving the public greater access to this natural resource, he says. It has real implications for other communities to follow this type of model.

Despite the pandemic this past year, enthusiasm for the project is palpable. For Spetrini, a Malden resident, its building the first significant piece of what has been envisioned as the Malden River Greenway. Adams sees the total project as a way to build social resilience as well as garnering community interest in climate resilience. For Vandiver, its the implications for improved community access.

From a health standpoint, everybody has learned from Covid-19 that the health aspects of walking in nature are really restorative, says Vandiver. Creating greater green space gives more attention to health issues. These are seemingly small side benefits, but theyre huge for mental health benefits.

Leventhal City Prizes next cycle

The Leventhal City Prize was established by the LCAU to catalyze innovative, interdisciplinary urban design, and planning approaches worldwide to improve both the environment and the quality of life for residents. Support for the LCAU was provided by the Muriel and Norman B. Leventhal Family Foundation and the Sherry and Alan Leventhal Family Foundation.

Were thrilled with inaugural recipients of the award and the extensive work theyve undertaken that is being held up as an exemplary model for others to learn from, says Sarah Williams, LCAU director and a professor in DUSP. Their work reflects the prizes intent. We look forward to catalyzing these types of collaborative partnership in the next prize cycle.

Submissions for the next cycle of the Leventhal City Prize will open in early 2022.

Read more:

Finding common ground in Malden - MIT News

Central Ohio renters increasingly have an option between apartment flats and rental homes.

A growing number of rental communities are featuring single-story, ranch-style, attached homes, giving tenants the feel of a house without a mortgage.

Although such communities have been around central Ohio for decades, they have boomed in recent years, led largely by three rapidly expanding companiesRedwood Living, Wilcox Communities and Treplus Communitieswith help fromseveral other developers.

Each offers its own variations, but all target what they see as a growing audience: empty nesters who want the convenience of renting but with a front and back door, attached garages and no neighbor above or below.

"Our largest demographic are downsizers, people who don't want to buy a condo but who have lived in a home, who want that home lifestyle,"saidNoelle Smith,one of Redwood Living's two central Ohio managers.

Because ranch-style apartments cost far more to build than stacked apartments, they tend to cost more to rent, typically starting above $1,500 and rising in some cases north of $3,000 a month. Tenants say the premium is worth it.

Shannon Shorie and her husband moved from a walk-up apartment into The Residences at BrownsFarm, a Wilcox Communities' development in Grove City, in late July. They're paying $1,700 a month for the largest model, which gives them more than 1,300 square feet.

"It's so much worth it," said Shorie, whose husband asked not to be named.

"It's a much better value than our apartment. It's more like living in a house, even though you have people on both sides of you. It's very private. You have a two-car garage so you don't have to worry about parking, and it's very spacious."

Wilcox, Redwood and Treplus have built 23central Ohio communities containing about3,500 apartments, and together they are planning at least10additional communities in the Columbus area.

Developers say completed communities are full and typicallyhave waiting lists. Those under construction prelease quickly. Browns Farm, for example, was two-thirds leased by the time the first apartment opened, said Jonathan Wilcox, managing partner of the developer, Wilcox Communities.

"We think there's a long runway with this," he said. "We believe this isn't a trend, it's a shift."

But, he added, the communities can be challenging to build. They require a lot of landdevelopers want at least 20 acres for each communitywhich makes them hard to economically build inside the Interstate 270 beltway.

Treplus Communities, however, is looking for sites inside the beltway and has been in talks with the developer of the former United Methodist Children's Home property to be part of that project in the middle of Worthington.

"I just want 10 acres," said Jane Arthur Roslovic, a partner in Treplus. "To get into Worthington, we'd shrink our footprint in a nanosecond. We just love that site. It's hard to find niches like that."

A closer look at single-story ranch options:

Redwood Living, based in Independence, Ohio, operates more than 10,000 rentals across seven Midwestern and Southern states. Founded in 1991, Redwood entered the Columbus market in 2012with a Pickerington development and quickly ramped up.

Today, Redwood operates 13 communities in central Ohio with more than 2,000 apartments, and has no plans to slow down.

Since we built our first Columbus neighborhood in 2012, this area continues to thrive, and we are thrilled to keep growing with the market,said Redwood Chief Operating OfficerDavid Conwill.

Redwood's basic product has changed little since it entered the market: Single-story rental homes, attached, with front doors, rear patios andattached garages. All Redwood homes include two bedrooms (some with a bonus or flex room) andrange in size from about 1,100 square feet to more than 1,600 square feet.

Redwood rent ranges from about $1,500 a month to more than $3,300. When considered on a square-foot price, rent isn't much more than conventional apartments, said Smith, manager of Redwood's eastern central Ohio region.

Redwood is building a community in Marysville and expects next year to start communities in the Groveport, Obetz, Etna, West Jefferson and London areas.

"We can't build fast enough right now," Smith said. "Our product really fared well during the pandemic. ... We prelease almost everything."

Redwood's communities commonly offer ponds and walking paths, but noother community amenities such as pools, clubhouses or gyms.

Treplus Communities, based in Columbus, operates three ranch-rental communities in central Ohio but expectsto vastly expand with a new funding partner, the $36 billion Toledo-based housing and health care company Welltower.

"Our plan is to go from coast to coast," said Treplus partner Roslovic. "The reason the deal with Wellower and us makes senseis that they had the same vision we had: to be a national player."

Treplus plans to start its expansion later this year with two new central Ohio complexes Sugar Maple Commonsin Grove City and Spruce Commons on Central College Road on the Northeast Side adding about 270 apartments to its mix.

After that, the company is looking to expand into other markets, starting with Cincinnati and Indianapolis (in addition to the complex it already operates in Centerville, outsideDayton).

"We're looking very heavily into the Carolinas, Michigan andTennessee," Roslovic said. "There's still plenty of opportunity in Florida, and Texas is a huge active adult state."

Treplus offers one- or two-bedroom apartments with optional dens, one bath per bedroom plus a half bath, along with a two-car garage. Apartments range from about 1,200 square feet to about 1,600 square feet.

Unlike Redwood and Wilcox communities, Treplus apartments are restricted to those 55 and older. The complexes boast a full menu of amenities and services targeting the age group, includingcommunity centers with fitness facilities and offices, concierge services, and programs that include education, social, fitness and entertainment events.

"We always wanted to have a brand associated with active adults," Roslovic said. "The amenitiesand programs we offer, it was very intentional."

The amenities and some of the finishes and landscaping raise the starting price of Treplus above some of its competitors. Apartments range from about $2,100 to $2,800 a month.

Wilcox Communitiesof Worthingtonpivoted from building condominiums to single-story apartments several years ago and hasn't looked back.

"We got serious about this seven or eight years ago when we saw a shift among (baby) boomers to renting by choice," said Jonathan Wilcox. "We said, 'Let's come up with a new concept that would meet this emerging demand.' "

The company has builtfour ranch-style rental communities in central Ohio and is completing three more, in Marysville, Grove City and new New Albany, fora total of about 1,100 apartments. The company plans to build in four more locations for another700 apartments, Wilcox said.

Wilcox Communities split the difference between what Redwood and Treplus provide. They offer clubhouses, fitness centers, coffee bars and other amenities including dog parks but not the full menu of services and programming offered at Treplus.

Wilcox's apartments run from about1,100 to 1,400square feet with two bedrooms, two baths and a two-car garage. Rent ranges from about $1,400 to $1,700 depending on model and community, though Jonathan Wilcox expects rising construction and land costs to push up rents to $1,500 to $2,000 in future communities.

Although Wilcox complexes are not age restricted, they tend to draw a specific audience.

"They really attract the above-50 renter who rents by choice," he said.

Other developers with similar products includeRockford Homes, which just opened the Ponds at Madison in Canal Winchester;Schottenstein Homes, which has developed a two-story, amenity-rich version of the idea;and Mid-Ohio Development.

jweiker@dispatch.com

@JimWeiker

Read the original:

Ranch-style apartments offer the feel of a house without the mortgage - The Columbus Dispatch