by NORA GRACE-FLOOD
A local affordable childcare nonprofit is looking to take on the role of housing developer — as it moves forward with plans to expand its current rent-free-shelter options for teachers, by building four new houses in Fair Haven Heights.That nonprofit is the Friends Center for Children, a quickly growing East Grand Avenue-headquartered program that provides care for children between the ages of three months and five years old at sliding-scale costs based on their families’ incomes.
According to a zoning-relief application currently before the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA), the Friends Center is in the early stages of a plan to turn two donated lots of land on Eldridge and Howard Streets into four single-family homes with three bedrooms each. Those four to-be-built new houses would then be made available to Friends Center teachers rent-free (the occupants would be responsible for covering the costs of utilities).
Read More This article was originally posted to New Haven Independent