Park Place, local government partners in affordable supportive housing

  • Leaders from Osceola County, the City of Kissimmee and Park Place Behavioral Health Services helped break ground Friday on the Dillingham Apartments project. PHOTO/TERRY LLOYD
    Leaders from Osceola County, the City of Kissimmee and Park Place Behavioral Health Services helped break ground Friday on the Dillingham Apartments project. PHOTO/TERRY LLOYD
  • Dillingham Apartments will bring 30 units of affordable supportive housing.
    Dillingham Apartments will bring 30 units of affordable supportive housing.

Osceola County Commissioner Cheryl Grieb, Kissimmee Mayor Olga Gonzalez and Park Place Behavioral Health Services (PPBHS) CEO Jim Shanks were among those who took part in a traditional groundbreaking ceremony Friday morning to kick off the Dillingham Apartments project, which will bring 30 units of affordable supportive housing.

Construction is expected to be completed by the spring of 2024, in about a year, on the project located on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard across from the Toho Water Authority building.

The 30-unit Dillingham Apartments will ensure individuals with a diagnosis of mental illness or substance abuse issues have an opportunity to have a permanent place to call home. In addition to the apartment units, additional facilities and resources will be available.

“Residents will have access to a variety of supportive services offered onsite by peer specialists and a case manager provided by Park Place Behavioral Health Care, as well as a computer/ classroom/ community room, as well as access to agency resources and support for navigating social services available in the community,” said Natalie Mullett, Director of Business Development and Dillingham Project Manager for PPBHS.

The three-story Dillingham Apartments will have 22 onebedroom apartments, and eight two-bedroom apartments. Funding for the complex came about by the partnership combining five grants from federal and state resources, and some additional funding for supplemental rent payments to get residents started is also available. Birdsong Housing Partners is performing the construction, and the Kissimmee project is one of their five affordable housing developments in Central Florida.

“These will become people’s permanent homes,” Shanks said.

Park Place Behavioral Health Care is Osceola County’s community behavioral health provider of adult and children’s mental health and substance use services with over 300 staff members at sites in Kissimmee, Poinciana, and Ocala. The non-profit (501c3) organization is designated as the “single point of entry” to the Osceola County Central Receiving System of Care and is the primary resource for first responders when they encounter individuals in the community who are in mental health or substance abuse crisis.