Smith Hill CDC to provide affordable housing services to Wanskuck neighborhood

PROVIDENCE COMMUNITY and housing leaders gather to support renovation of blighted properties. From left, Hugh Clements, Providence police chief; David Salvatore, Providence city councilman; Steve Maurano, associate vice president of communications at Providence College; Mayor Jorge O. Elorza; Jean Lamb, director of the Smith Hill Community Development Corp.; and Brenda Clement, executive director of Housing Works RI at Roger Williams University. / COURTESY SMITH HILL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP.
PROVIDENCE COMMUNITY and housing leaders gather to support renovation of blighted properties. From left, Hugh Clements, Providence police chief; David Salvatore, Providence city councilman; Steve Maurano, associate vice president of communications at Providence College; Mayor Jorge O. Elorza; Jean Lamb, director of the Smith Hill Community Development Corp.; and Brenda Clement, executive director of Housing Works RI at Roger Williams University. / COURTESY SMITH HILL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP.

PROVIDENCE – The Smith Hill Community Development Corp. has expanded its affordable housing services to the adjoining Wanskuck neighborhood of Providence.
The sister-neighborhood program, which will include CDC investment into rehabbing foreclosed homes and multifamily structures, was launched last week outside 267 Veazie St., a former vacant structure that has been renovated over the past year.
Smith Hill CDC has provided affordable housing options to the residents of Smith Hill for more than 24 years, according to Jean Lamb, executive director of the community development organization. These options include homeownership, as well as rental and landlord opportunities.
“As our sister neighborhood with similar needs to those of Smith Hill, we are eager to guide Wanskuck through a path of similar progress,” Lamb said.
According to a news release provided by the nonprofit organization, the Wanskuck neighborhood has had a 33 percent decline in homeowner-occupied homes in the last 15 years.
More than 100 foreclosed and boarded homes were reported in the neighborhood in 2012.

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