Victory Housing Celebrates Start of Construction at Victory Haven

Damascus, MD, May 7 – Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich today joined Bishop Michael W. Fisher, Auxiliary Bishop of Washington, other community leaders and Victory Housing to celebrate the start of construction at Victory Haven in Damascus, Md. The 72-unit affordable rental community for seniors is being developed by Victory Housing, the nonprofit affordable housing development arm of the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. This new community, which sits on land earmarked in the Damascus Master Plan as senior housing, benefits from partnerships with the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Affairs, Freddie Mac, Capital One, Hudson Housing Capital, TD Bank, and the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County.

Victory Haven’s location at 9616 Main Street in Damascus offers residents easy access to downtown Damascus, the nearby Damascus Shopping Center, and the Damascus Senior Center and Damascus Library which are located directly across Main Street from the property. Additionally, immediately adjacent to the site is a medical complex anchored by MedStar Physician Partners at Damascus and Amber Hill Physical Therapy. The site is also served by Montgomery County’s Ride-On Bus service, which travels between the adjacent Damascus Senior Center and the Shady Grove Metro Station.

The building will include 54 one-bedroom and 18 two-bedroom apartments that will be available to households with incomes at or below 30%, 40%, 50%, and 60% of area median income. Four units will be unrestricted. Rents will range between $820 - $1505 monthly, and 30 of the households will pay 30% of their income towards rent.

Building amenities include a large community space on the first floor, a library with an adjacent computer center, a game/TV room, a fitness center, and a wellness room for visiting healthcare professionals. In-unit features include luxury vinyl plank floors, LED lighting, Energy Star appliances, high-efficiency heating and cooling, and individual washer/dryers. In addition, Victory Haven will be an environmentally responsible community that meets LEED New Construction standards.

The need for affordable senior housing is great and growing. According to a report produced for Montgomery County Planning Department, among households headed by someone between the ages of 55 and 64, 28.5 percent are cost burdened. The cost burden rate increases to 30.2 percent for 65- to 74-year-old households, and then to 36.7 percent for 75- to 84-year-old households. Among the 85+ population, nearly half (45.4 percent) are housing cost-burdened.

Victory Housing has worked collaboratively on several prior successful Victory Housing communities with the team it’s assembled at Victory Haven, including Grimm + Parker Architects and Hamel Builders. Leasing and management are being handled by Habitat America, LLC.

Victory Housing has a 40-year history of developing and managing high-quality affordable housing with a portfolio of 31 affordable and mixed-income communities encompassing 2,280 units in the greater Washington, DC area. Victory Haven will be the 17th community Victory Housing has developed in Montgomery County. “We are blessed to express the love we have for our neighbors in this concrete way through the communities built by Victory Housing,” said Bishop Fisher. “Our prayer is that God will bless the residents of Victory Haven and that the blessing will extend to all who have worked so conscientiously to bring this project to their community.”

“We’re very gratified to be able to bring the Archdiocese’ mission to life at another senior community in Montgomery County,” said Victory Housing President Leila Finucane. The development team for Victory Haven has worked collaboratively on several prior successful Victory Housing communities, and includes Grimm + Parker Architects, who designed Victory Haven, and Hamel Builders, who serves as general contractor. Leasing and management are being handled by Habitat America, LLC.