Building Independence

The Building Independence project is in Raleigh NC.  It is a three house, single story residential facility with three residents in each home. Each home has a shared living room, kitchen and laundry. Each resident has his or her own bedroom and bathroom. The residents are responsible for preparing their meals and maintaining their rooms and shared spaces, and for paying an affordable monthly fee for housing and services.

There is a shared social space built into one of the three homes.
Lutheran Services Carolinas (LSC), the local arm of Lutheran Services America provides 24/7 emergency support plus a total of 30 hours of on-site support to residents across the Green Level and Building Independence communities.

The Project

Building Independence is a unique housing approach which involved Habitat for Humanity (Wake County, NC) in the construction process, and a local service organization as the property owner and provider of support for residents. 

Building Independence (BI) is a collaborative model between three organizations that focus their resources on developing housing for adults with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (I/DD). The BI model was created by necessity when it was recognized that public funding (such as HUD 811 and similar programs) was becoming increasingly scarce and the costs of creating one-off housing solutions by stand-alone organizations will be increasingly difficult. 

The Serving Cup brought together two organizations, Habitat for Humanity Wake and Lutheran Services Carolinas (LSC), who brought their resources. As a team, we completed the Building Independence residence.

To learn about this project in greater detail, please visit the Blueprint for Collaboration section within our Housing page.