On World AIDS Day, a group gathered in a parking lot in Oak Cliff to mark the occasion with a ribbon cutting for an expanded affordable housing development for people with and impacted by HIV/AIDS.
"This moment on World AIDS Day, you can see a glimmer of what we can do as a community when we come together," AIDS Services of Dallas President and CEO Traswell Livingston III said.
La Maison Five Eleven is a 16-unit affordable housing development that was renovated and expanded with the help of $1 million from the City of Dallas/HUD.
"It's an easy buzzword in the city. Everybody likes to talk about how we need more affordable housing," Dallas City Council Member Chad West said. "But there are not enough organizations and people that are actually putting their money where their mouth is, and every day this group (ASD) lives and breathes it."
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"The reason we did this was to model, not institutional, but model nice products of housing so that we can collaborate and partner with other developers in our community," Traswell said. "Other developers can do this too."
The apartments will be ready to move in at the beginning of February 2023. Residents will pay 30% of their income for rent.
"This is how we end HIV; not only in Dallas but in our state, in our country, on Earth," Traswell said.
