The new program is named in honor of the late board member and community advocate, Eddie Adams Jr.
TAMPA, Fla., Thursday, December 8 2023 – New Life Village has partnered with the Hillsborough County Housing Finance Authority to launch the Eddie Adams Jr. Deposit Assistance Program to assist low-income renters with moving expenses.
The program will cover security deposits for New Life Village residents with a household income of less than 80% area median income (AMI). Families earning less than 50% AMI will also have their last month’s rent paid for by the program.
The funds are available to the 16 new families moving into the Village this winter, all of which are families removing or preventing sibling groups of 3 or more children from being in foster care.
“The housing market in the Tampa Bay area is very challenging for working class families. There are thousands of hardworking families who cannot afford current market rental rates, let alone deposits.” said Mariah Hayden, Executive Director at New Life Village. “The Eddie Adams Jr. Deposit Assistance Program is designed to support families who are positively impacting the foster care system. It removes financial barriers that make it difficult for families to move into our community and receive the necessary support and onsite programming.”
The program, named in honor of the late New Life Village founding board member, Eddie Adams Jr. who passed away earlier this year. Eddie helped Sister Claire and the founding Board members establish New Life Village in 2009. He was well known in the Tampa Bay community for his philanthropic involvement, serving on dozens of boards and as a staunch advocate for underserved communities.
“It is an honor to name it after Eddie Adam Jr., who was such a wonderful advocate for our community. New Life Village would not be what it is today without his support over the years.” said Hayden.
New Life Village serves at the crossroads foster care and affordable housing crises in Tampa Bay. Their unique intergenerational community model is home to around 170 residents and designed to support low-income families raising foster-to-adoptive and kinship children who survived trauma and neglect, as well as senior citizens. Housing is offered at below-market-cost rates, with the new Deposit Assistance Program further supporting low-income families who are removing children from the foster system.
“The Housing Finance Authority of Hillsborough County is pleased to work with New Life Village to assist residents by lessening the stress from the cost of rents”, said Frank DeBose, Vice-Chairman of the HFA. “These residents are providing a valuable service to the community by working with children in foster care.”
The Village also provides program-rich onsite wrap-around services for families, including the Village’s onsite Trauma Informed Wellness, Resilience, and Character Development Program, which help improve residents’ housing stability, wellbeing, access to health resources, educational attainment, and community connection.
About New Life Village
Founded in 2012, New Life Village is an intergenerational community designed to support families raising foster to permanency and kinship children who have survived abuse, neglect and trauma, offering them program-rich, below-market housing and onsite wrap-around services. For more information, visit https://newlifevillage.org
