Cedar Lake, a non-profit care provider for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, has acquired five Housing and Urban Development (HUD) homes located in Jefferson County. Cedar Lake Residences (CLR) moved clients into two of the homes in mid-July, and will move additional CLR clients in the other three homes over the next several months.

The homes were previously owned by Christian Care Communities, who many years ago served persons with intellectual disabilities and built several HUD homes for those purposes. When Christian Care decided to re-focus their efforts on services for the aging, they leased these homes to a provider who serves persons with acquired brain injuries. Christian Care then transferred these HUD projects at no cost to Cedar Lake.

The five homes consist of two homes in the Highview/Ferncreek area near CLR Jefferson Manor and Keeling homes. These homes are very similar to the CLR single-family homes constructed in the past several years. The three other homes are in the Middletown/Anchorage area and consist of a duplex and a single-family home. All of these homes have been constructed in the past 15 years. The total value of these homes is over $1,650,000.

In 2012 HUD made a programmatic shift in their 811 housing program – the one that Cedar Lake used successfully for over 20 years to develop the 11 HUD projects the organization has today. The HUD 811 program no longer provides capital funding to build/renovate homes for persons with disabilities or any one specific population. This has left Cedar Lake without a familiar, highly successful resource to assist clients to live in a community home. The transfer of these homes from Christian Care Communities allows Cedar Lake to continue this successful model for a bit longer.