By: Summer Kelley, Staff Reporter

You may have noticed the new construction underway on Highway 11 near Dade County’s sports complex and wondered what was being built.

Well, wonder no more. Construction has begun on a special type of new housing. The new housing is for individuals with developmental disabilities. 

Tom Ford is the Director of Lookout Mountain Community Services (LMCS), one of the organizations interested in the housing complex. According to Ford, the housing complex is being built by Volunteers of America Southeast, one of the largest housing developers in the southeast for individuals with disabilities.

“The developmentally disabled housing is not being built by, or even contracted by, Lookout Mountain Community Services,” Ford said. “We do not work on it or even own it. The construction is being handled by Volunteers of America Southeast.”

Lookout Mountain Community Services’ interest in the housing is from a consumer’s point of view.   LMCS will be helping to match consumers with the housing complex by assisting with the application and screening process.

“We will work with consumers to give them the chance to get into the housing development,” Ford said.

The housing complex will be staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and will be similar to assisted living housing for the elderly. Each person living at the complex will have their own little apartment, but the complex will provide meals, assist with medications, help with laundry and offer other support services to help them with various details of day-to-day life. Ford said the developmentally disabled consumers that will be approved for the complex would be higher functioning individuals who could live on their own, but still need a little assistance.

Construction on the housing complex should be completed by next summer, as long as everything stays on schedule. Ford said they would probably start accepting applications for apartments in the housing complex by the end of the summer. Those eligible for the housing complex will be selected by a combination of Lookout Mountain Community Services, Volunteers of America Southeast and the state of Georgia.  Housing will be given on a “needs” basis and will be available to anyone in the area, not just residents of Dade County.

Look for more information on the new housing complex in future editions of the Dade County Sentinel.