Photo: Chris Emeott
The Glen at Valley Creek provides fixed-income seniors in Woodbury with a safe, affordable and comfortable home.
Providing comfortable housing for seniors in the Woodbury community, The Glen at Valley Creek is a development that many are happy to call home. Created by the Washington County Community Development Agency (CDA) and managed by the Shelter Corporation, this three-story, 42-unit complex was designed for independent individuals that are over 62 years old on a fixed income.
As one of 11 senior housing facilities in the Washington County CDA family, The Glen is a place that ensures affordability, security and community for each resident. “To have that sense of community is so important to our residents,” Regional Manager of the Shelter Corporation Cindy Kramm says. “We are excited to be able to bring all of those comforts right to their front door.”
Just because someone grows older, does not mean they have to give up the sense of community they know and love. “People want to stay in the community that they’re connected to,” executive director of the Washington County CDA Melissa Taphorn says. “The apartment provides that type of lifestyle for them.”
In close proximity to local shopping centers, dining experiences and the Tamarack Nature Preserve, residents are able to stay connected to everyday life. And if the convenient location of the complex wasn’t enough, residents of The Glen also have access to a fitness center, community room, library, activity center, a tub room for therapy, and in-unit washer and dryers. In addition to these amenities, they are also provided with a service coordinator to help with housekeeping, administer in-home health care, such as Medicare enrollment and free blood pressure screenings, and tax preparation. “It is important that our seniors are able to have this housing and have a place to live where they don’t have to worry,” Kramm says.
In a growing community such as Woodbury, the options for housing are increasing, but so are the price tags. “It shouldn’t be a matter of how much money you make to determine if you can live in Woodbury,” Kramm says. Striving to help individuals and growing families maintain a stable lifestyle, the CDA worked with the city to develop a plan that would adequately accommodate the housing need for the community. The CDA was able to reduce construction costs and any potential increases in rental rates. “We felt that was our calling to try to get to that deep affordability level,” Taphorn says.
In addition to their efforts in affordable housing (the CDA is home to over 1,200 affordable senior and family housing units in the county), the Washington County CDA also provides free access to services such as rental assistance, counseling for first-time home buyers or renters, critical services for the homeless, loan programs and resources to help facilitate small business growth in the area.
With a mission of providing long-term affordability, Taphorn says that the Washington County CDA hopes to maintain this goal at The Glen, its partnering complexes and eventually more developments, for years and years to come. “It is a great opportunity, it is a beautiful building, our residents absolutely love it, and we love being able to provide for them,” Kramm says.
