Northland’s Standish with a tenants Tuesday night.
Eighty-two guaranteed apartments for low-income families are staying in New Haven rather than moving out of town, thanks to the latest deal in the ongoing saga of Church Street South.
The deal involves the future of “project-based” federal Section 8 apartments after the upcoming demolition of the 301-unit apartment complex across from Union Station.
Sixty-five families remain at Church Street South as officials continue helping them find new places to live so the complex — which became unlivable because of mold and leaks and structural problems — can come down.
Most of the departing families have “tenant protection vouchers,” or portable federal Section 8 rent vouchers that they can take anywhere to landlords willing to rent to them. But Church Street South consisted of “project-based” apartments, where Section 8 rent subsidies were tied to the complex. That means if tenants moved, another low-income family could move in, and New Haven would keep that amount of affordable housing.
As part of a deal worked out with legal-aid lawyers and the city, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) agreed to allow other landlords in town to assume the project-based rental agreements from Northland Investment Corp., Church Street South’s owner. But they didn’t necessarily have to go to apartments in New Haven. (Northland also has agreed to include the same amount of subsidized rents if they rebuild a bigger mixed-use complex at the Church Street South property.)
At a meeting Tuesday night with about 12 remaining tenants, Northland Vice-President Peter Standish announced that 82 of the 301-unit federally subsidized complex will be transferred to another federally subsidized complex in the city, Beechwood Gardens on Whalley Avenue. The complex is owned by Weatogue-based VestA Corporation. The meeting took place at 54 Meadow St.
“This is for those who wish to stay with the Section 8 contract,” Standish said. “Not those who have selected tenant protection vouchers.” Standish said of those eight families, only one or two might actually need one of the two-bedroom units that will become available at Beechwood.
Standish said that Northland is looking to transfer more of the units covered in its more than $3 million annual contract with HUD to other interested developers.
The announcement won’t affect many Church Street South tenants. But it will keep needed affordable housing in town, said New Haven Legal Assistance Attorney Amy Marx.
And while Beechwood Gardens already has subsidized tenants, this will increase the subsidy, making the homes more affordable, and help VestA make needed repairs.
Veta’s Kelleher.
VestA Vice-President Margo Kelleher was on hand Tuesday to tell tenants about the types of two-bedroom units that exist at the complex — 18 flats (half of which are handicapped accessible), the rest townhouses — and about a renovation of the property that she said is expected to have financing possibly by this spring, and be complete in a year’s time.
“We’re planning a substantial rehabilitation of the property,” Kelleher said. “We cannot accept the Section 8 contract until the rehabilitation is complete.” She said that the Beechwood currently has about 10 vacancies.
“It is bittersweet that the transfer is to an already partially subsidized unit rather than to a full market rate unit subsidized to 30 percent of income,” Marx said. But she added that it’s a first step, not the last. Decisions still have to be made for the remaining families who must wait on replacement housing and those who find that they can’t meet their needs with a portable voucher, but also whether Northland is going to find more local housing entities that can take over the remainder of Northland’s contract.
“The third thing that is the elephant in the room is, what’s going to happen on site” at Church Street South, she said.
Previous coverage of Church Street South:
• Tenants Seek A Ticket Back Home
• City Teams With Northland To Rebuild
• Church Street South Tenants’ Tickets Have Arrived
Church Street South Demolition Begins
• This Time, Harp Gets HUD Face Time
• Nightmare In 74B
• Surprise! Now HUD Flunks Church St. South
• Church St. South Tenants Get A Choice
• Home-For-Xmas? Not Happening
• Now It’s Christmas, Not Thanksgiving
• Pols Enlist In Church Street South Fight
• Raze? Preserve? Or Renew?
• Church Street South Has A Suitor
• Northland Faces Class-Action Lawsuit On Church Street South
• First Attempt To Help Tenants Shuts Down
• Few Details For Left-Behind Tenants
• HUD: Help’s Here. Details To Follow
• Mixed Signals For Church Street South Families
• Church St. South Families Displaced A 2nd Time — For Yale Family Weekend
• Church Street South Getting Cleared Out
• 200 Apartments Identified For Church Street South Families
• Northland Asks Housing Authority For Help
• Welcome Home
• Shoddy Repairs Raise Alarm — & Northland Offer
• Northland Gets Default Order — & A New Offer
• HUD, Pike Step In
• Northland Ordered To Fix Another 17 Roofs
• Church Street South Evacuees Crammed In Hotel
• Church Street South Endgame: Raze, Rebuild
• Harp Blasts Northland, HUD
• Flooding Plagues Once-Condemned Apartment
• Church Street South Hit With 30 New Orders
• Complaints Mount Against Church Street South
• City Cracks Down On Church Street South, Again
• Complex Flunks Fed Inspection, Rakes In Fed $$
• Welcome Home — To Frozen Pipes
• City Spotted Deadly Dangers; Feds Gave OK
• No One Called 911 | “Hero” Didn’t Hesitate
• “New” Church Street South Goes Nowhere Fast
• Church Street South Tenants Organize
At this point, I'm curious what happens first: Church Street South actually gets demolished or LiveWorkLearnPlay actually breaks ground. I am hoping not to be an old man in either case.