[Baltimore Sun] Tour of Carroll County offers glimpse at affordable housing, small business revitalization for state official
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Affordable housing, small business revitalization and food insecurity took center stage in Carroll County this week, with a two-day visit from Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development Secretary Jake Day.
Day continued his initiative to tour counties across the state with stops in Carroll County on Tuesday and Wednesday. Day, along with his senior staff, spent Tuesday touring the City of Westminster, and Wednesday visiting Taneytown and other parts of the county.
“We spent the day yesterday in Westminster, and my impression was how engaged the group of officials were with each other,” Day said, in an interview Wednesday after wrapping up his visit at the Westminster Rescue Mission. “There’s a lot of alignment of elected officials and appointed officials on every level working together on behalf of the citizens.”
Day said what impressed him most in Carroll was the working relationship among county officials and municipal leaders.
On Wednesday Day visited Taneytown Crossing, an affordable housing community in the City of Taneytown. The community is a 36-unit development of apartments and duplexes with one to three bedrooms that opened in 2021.
Taneytown Mayor Christopher Miller said he was thrilled to welcome Day and show off a premier affordable housing community.
“We need those type of housing communities in Taneytown for our residents who can’t afford housing, and end up having to move to Pennsylvania,” Miller said. “I’m very grateful the secretary made it out there.”
Day ended his bus tour at the Westminster Rescue Mission.
Stephanie Halley, the mission’s chief executive officer, explained the organization’s Addiction Healing Center, and also unveiled how $344,940.10 in state grant funding was used to expand its food program. This included the purchase of a forklift to load and unload boxes of food.
Halley also announced the mission’s efforts to find land to build a residential facility where women who are suffering with drug addiction, can live with their children while receiving help. The facility would be similar to the mission’s Addiction Healing Center, which is for men trying to overcome addiction.
The mission is located on 27 acres in Westminster, and provides men ages 18 and older with a calming open space of land to recover from the trauma of drug addiction. The center, which also provides outpatient care, uses a holistic approach rooted in faith, to help men overcome drug and alcohol use.
Halley wants to provide a similar program for women.
“We’re looking for a place to have some land where we can grow (vegetables), and kids can have some animals,” she said. “Out in the open is conducive to healing, and we absolutely want something like that.”
Got a news tip? Contact Sherry Greenfield at sgreenfield@baltsun.com, 240-315-7029 and @sherrygreenfie9 on X.
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