Sertoma Center converts group home to duplex

Sarah RobertoOur Town Leaders

The Sertoma Center has completed an innovative conversion project that transformed a former group home in East Knoxville to a modern duplex, offering a new home to eight Knoxville residents with disabilities.

Recent changes to the Home and Community-Based Settings rule by the state of Tennessee prompted the conversion, which was adopted as a project under Sertoma’s ongoing Labor of Love campaign, which provides supportive housing to low-income individuals with intellectual disabilities.

River Shores Drive interior shot.

Sertoma’s pioneering effort to convert the group home into a duplex satisfies the regulatory issue by licensing each side of the duplex as a unique four-bedroom unit, enabling the Department of Housing and Urban Development to subsidize all eight beds under the single roof, offering an affordable-housing option to persons served by Sertoma.

“The conversion of this group home to a duplex was critically important.” says Lee Freeman, CEO of Sertoma Center. “Not only does it enable us to provide affordable housing for eight individuals, but Sertoma is the first organization in the nation that has found a creative solution to this regulatory issue. HUD plans to promote our model nationwide to other agencies facing the same challenges. We are very pleased to welcome our eight friends to their new home on River Shores Drive.”

Sertoma has two other group homes in the Knoxville area. Plans are already in the works to convert both properties in 2019, providing newly renovated homes for additional individuals in need.

Sarah Roberto provided this story on behalf of Sertoma Center

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