Detroit's Neighborhood Service Organization Receives 2013 Award for Historic Preservation

DETROIT - April 23, 2013 - PRLog -- Neighborhood Service Organization (NSO) has been recognized by Gov. Rick Snyder for rehabilitating the historic Michigan Bell and Western Electric Warehouse into the NSO Bell Building. Located on Oakman Boulevard, the NSO Bell Building is a groundbreaking effort that provides permanent, supportive housing for homeless adults and support services to help them stabilize and turn their lives around.  It also will be the home of NSO’s new headquarters.

“We are humbled and honored to receive this prestigious award,” said Sheilah P. Clay, President and CEO of the Neighborhood Service Organization. “Working with a phenomenal development team, NSO has transformed the once empty historic Detroit landmark into 155 apartments for formerly homeless adults, bringing new life into the building and the Oakman Boulevard community.  The NSO Bell Building is a proven housing model designed to end homelessness and positively change lives.”

NSO will receive its award during a public ceremony at 9 a.m. May 1 in the Michigan State Capitol Rotunda. The NSO Bell Building project will be featured on a large poster-size display board and will remain on display in the capital ground floor rotunda for one week. Attendees include Scott Woosley, executive director of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHD), State Historic Preservation Officer Brian Conway, and others.

The Governor’s Award program was established in 2003, by the State Historic Preservation Office, part of the MSHD, to honor outstanding historic preservation achievements reflecting a commitment to the preservation of Michigan’s unique character and the many cultural resources that document Michigan’s past.

In addition to NSO, five other projects also received the 2013 Award for Historic Preservation.

“The projects we identify demonstrate the difference historic preservation makes in our communities,” Gov. Rick Snyder said. “The rehabilitation and reuse of existing buildings, particularly in our cities, is vital to spurring economic development and preserving a sense of place.”

“Preserving our historic and archaeological sites takes hard work and collaboration,” MSHDA Executive Director Scott Woosley said. “Each of the six teams of people being recognized this year demonstrated outstanding commitment to doing everything right and to working together to make good things happen.”

The NSO Bell Building, which welcomed residents into apartments last fall, serves as a model for public-private funding collaboration and investment, and as the impetus for neighborhood revitalization.  Together with the neighboring Focus: HOPE campus, the NSO Bell Building will help to economically and physically revitalize the surrounding area, providing services to its residents and bringing traffic to local businesses.

It is estimated that the NSO model of supportive housing, at an annual cost of $17,200 per resident, will save as much as $5 million each year in “costs to society,” while moving homeless individuals into a safe environment where they can receive life-restoring services.  Only six months later, residents are going back to school, finding jobs and receiving treatment for their issues.

About Neighborhood Service Organization
Since 1955, Neighborhood Service Organization (NSO) has been reaching out to people across metropolitan Detroit by strengthening and empowering neighborhoods, supporting families and helping people in need. Over the years, the scope and variety of services offered have grown into a network of sophisticated, vertically integrated programs that have received local, statewide and national recognition. For more information about NSO, visit www.nso-mi.org.

About the State Historic Preservation Office
The State Historic Preservation Office is part of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), which provides financial and technical assistance through public and private partnerships to create and preserve decent, affordable housing for low- and moderate-income residents and to engage in community economic development activities to revitalize urban and rural communities.*

*MSHDA's loans and operating expenses are financed through the sale of tax-exempt and taxable bonds as well as notes to private investors, not from state tax revenues. Proceeds are loaned at below-market interest rates to developers of rental housing, and help fund mortgages and home improvement loans. MSHDA also administers several federal housing programs. For more information, visit www.michigan.gov/mshda

The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) is financed in part by a grant from the National Park Service, Department of Interior. The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of the Interior. The Department of the Interior prohibits discrimination on its federally funded assistance programs.  If you believe you've been discriminated against please contact the Office of Equal Opportunity, National Park Service, 1849 C. St. NW, Washington DC 20240.