CHARLESTON -- To celebrate the completion of a new apartment building designed to provide the physically disabled with independent living accommodations, representatives of several groups that contributed to its design and construction held a ceremonial ribbon cutting today.

“This project provides some much-needed, centrally located living space for people who face physical challenges,” West Virginia AFL-CIO President Kenny Perdue noted.

Named in honor of longtime attorney Patrick Maroney -- who through his work as General Counsel to the WVAFL-CIO and as a state and community leader has dedicated decades of service on behalf of fair housing and employment -- the Thomas Patrick Maroney Unity Apartments contains 13 one-bedroom accessible apartments, which include kitchens and bathrooms designed to accommodate people with mobility challenges.

 “I’m really grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to work over the past 40 years for the West Virginia AFL-CIO and for the working men and women of West Virginia, and this honor for the Maroney family really formulates how I feel about moving forward and helping the people of this state,” Maroney said. “This project, providing affordable housing for people with special needs so they can live independently, is the latest of what is typical of what the AFL-CIO and the union movement does.” 

The project was constructed with monies from the West Virginia Housing Development Fund and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through its Mortgage and Capital Advance Program, and is sponsored by Human Resource Development and Employment Inc, an arm of the West Virginia AFL-CIO and a private, nonprofit corporation dedicated to providing safe, decent and affordable housing for people with disabilities.

It is a federally-funded project which provides rental assistance; therefore, the amount of rent to be paid is based on income (no more than 30 percent of the adjusted income for rent and utilities). The Department of Housing and Urban Development will subsidize the balance.

Maroney, Perdue and sponsor representatives were joined at the ceremony today by U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin.

“We are grateful to Senator Manchin for his continued support of projects like these throughout the state, and his desire to honor Pat Maroney’s invaluable service to the people of West Virginia,” Perdue said.

For more information about the Human Resource Development and Employment Inc., and its 18 other complexes throughout the state that house over 800 residents, go to www.hrdewv.org.