Laurel plans Meadow View community to expand affordable housing access in Sussex County, Delaware

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Delaware’s congressional leaders awarded NeighborGood Partners $2 million to support a planned affordable housing community in Sussex County, as the nation continues to face a shortage of affordable homes.

For many Americans, and more notably, Delawareans, buying a home has become increasingly difficult as housing prices and mortgage rates continue to rise.

Delaware needs an estimated 24,400 additional homes by 2030 to keep up with projected demand, according to the Delaware State Housing Authority’s 2023 Housing Needs Assessment. Sussex County accounts for more than half of that projected need, with the report saying that about 13,400 additional housing units are needed by the end of the decade.

The town of Laurel is looking to address that shortage with a new community focused on homeownership.

Meadow View, a planned 245-home development along Discount Land Road, is being developed by NeighborGood Partners, a Dover-based nonprofit that works on affordable housing and community development.

Patricia Kelleher, vice president for real estate development at NeighborGood Partners, said the organization purchased 78 acres for the project using $3 million from American Rescue Plan Act funding.

“We were able to purchase 78 acres in Laurel on Discount Land Road. There, we intend to build 245 units for sale housing, [at] a mixture of types and prices,” Kelleher said.

She said that 121 units will be single-family homes, 64 will be town homes and 60 will be duplexes.

“It’s ideally located with easy access to downtown Laurel and all the amenities and resources offered on Route 13 and its environs,” she added.

With the development having a variety of homes, it will also have an array of shared spaces too, which include, green spaces, a walking trail and a children’s playground.

Kelleher said NeighborGood Partners is targeting people who want to own a home but may be priced out of much of the current market, including first-time buyers, people downsizing and residents on fixed incomes.

“We have a housing crisis, and the median purchase price in Sussex County is $471,000,” she said. “It’s just becoming harder and harder for families [and] households to become homeowners. And rents are also extremely high.”

That focus on homeownership is also part of what Laurel Town Manager Jamie Smith sees as significant about the project. She said the development could help address the need for affordable homeownership, while also supporting the town’s future economic growth.

“It’s twofold,” Smith said. “It’s a housing development that is for homeownership, which is huge in our community and it’s also at an affordable rate. That is not Section 8, but it is considered affordable housing, which is based on the median household income in Sussex County.”

“[It] increases your commercial development, you have to have rooftops. Businesses look at rooftops to make sure that they can be sustained by a community. So the more residential growth you have, it helps with future commercial growth,” she added.

The project is still in its planning stages but is expected to be built in five phases.

Kelleher said the first phase could cost between $15 and $20 million. The phased approach is partly driven by Sussex Conservation District requirements limiting how much land can be disturbed at one time.

Final designs and prices have not yet been determined, but Kelleher said the organization wants the homes to be attractive and energy-efficient to help reduce the ongoing cost of homeownership.

Developers plan to break ground by the end of 2027.