Homeless Housing Up For Sale

A red-brick Fitch Street building housing eight previously homeless families may soon transition to 14 market-rate apartments — and help an agency stay in business preventing homelessness.

The building in question is 192 Fitch St.

Called Lucht Hall, the building since 1995 has housed previously homeless families under the federal Section 8 ​“shelter-plus” program. New Reach, a local nonprofit, owns the building and houses and works with the families.

New Reach has put the building up for sale, asking $1.485 million. A new owner can convert the building to 14 apartments without needing special regulatory approval.

Three potential buyers inquired about the property, and New Reach is negotiating a sale with one of them, according to CEO Kellyann Day.

Meanwhile, New Reach is working to find the eight families new places to live. New Reach can continue using the Section 8 subsidies to rent the families apartments in other buildings, Day said. The sale will include a provision that enables the families to stay put until New Reach finds them new homes.

Southern Connecticut State University originally constructed the building in 1967 as Merit Hall.

“The value-add opportunity here is to acquire the building with ~8 tenants in place, then work to build-out 6 additional units and lease all units at market rates. There may be an additional opportunity to convert to student housing,” an online listing for the property notes.

The decision to sell reflects a balancing act that nonprofits face as they seek sustainability.

“It was a hard choice,” Day said in an interview Tuesday. But without making hard choices like this, ​“we’d find ourselves closed.”

Day stressed that no one will lose housing. She also said that the tenants will move to previously market-rate housing, so that the city will not lose overall affordable-housing stock.

New Reach serves 4,000 women and children and chronically homeless people a year by running two homeless shelters, an eviction prevention program, and supportive housing like Lucht Hall, where families pay subsidized rents and receive social-service help. It has 80 employees and a $6.4 million operating budget.

In the face of potential budget cuts, New Reach has in recent years worked hard on developing a long-term sustainability strategy. The pending sale is one of numerous tough decisions New Reach has made to seek long-term stability at a time when some nonprofits face existential threats in the face of funding crunches and growing needs:

• In 2015, New Reach decided to close one of its shelters to close a funding gap, and step up its focus on homelessness prevention.
• It is planning to move its headquarters from rented space on East Street to property it owns in Erector Square. Day said that will save around $150,000 a year.
• The agency is launching a capital campaign aimed at creating a $5 million endowment to cover infrastructure costs, so that public and private contributions can go almost exclusively to service delivery.

“Nonprofits have got to start thinking ahead about how they’re going to continue to provide their core services when more people are falling into crisis” and the pool of charitable dollars is limited, Day said.

The proceeds from the Lucht House sale will enable New Reach to invest more in providing its core services, Day said.

New Reach board member Jack Keyes, a retired probate judge who has been involved with the organization’s work since 1988, echoed Day’s comments. He said the board has worked with her and supported the strategy of seeking long-term sustainability. Calling Day ​“the best person I’ve ever worked with,” Keyes said, ​“She wants to make the gains we’ve made in dealing with the homeless permanent.”

Lucht House tenant Tanisha Gonzalez, a 28-year-old Meriden native and single mother of two, said she’s optimistic about what’s coming next.

Gonzalez has lived in a second-floor two-bedroom at the 192 Fitch complex for nearly three years, ever since she first connected with New Reach while still living at the Beth-El homeless shelter in Milford.

She hasn’t been able to work for years because her 3‑year-old son has epilepsy and autism and requires 24 – 7 care, she said. The fathers of her 3‑year-old and her six-month-old sons are both out of the picture, so she fends for herself.

“It’s been very hard for me,” she said. ​“But I managed.”

In large part, she’s been able to get by these past three years because of New Reach, she said. The apartment she lives in is spacious, with multiple walk-in closets. With no consistent source of income, she has to pay only $43 per month.

But she’s ready to move to a new place with New Reach’s help, she said. She’s already started looking at new places, she said, including a condo not far from her current address.

“I’m trying to find something suitable for a child with epilepsy,” she said.

She praised New Reach and the property management company that runs the Fitch Street complex as providing regular maintenance and of being good stewards of the property.

“If your door breaks, they come and fix it” right away, she said. ​“They really care about the residents.”