Upgrades Unveiled At Edith Johnson Towers

Jackie Reilly is ready to play bingo, practice chair yoga, and hold Christmas parties in her apartment building’s new common room — now that a long-coming $5.2 million renovation of the nearly 50-year-old Edith Johnson senior public-housing development in Dixwell has wrapped.

Tenants of that 14-story building joined city and state officials in welcoming that made-over community and computer room as well as a new and sorely needed roof, windows, and yellow-trimmed façade during a ribbon-cutting held Thursday morning outside the property at 114 Bristol St. 

“Our seniors are the ones who have given so much to our community over many years, and it’s important we recognize their contribution through creating beautiful housing for them to live in,” Mayor Justin Elicker said, describing the project as a means of upholding existing affordable housing while the city works to develop more accessible rentals amid a housing stock shortage and surging homelessness.

All 85 studio apartments and 10 one-bedrooms in the building are covered by a Section 8 contract, meaning that residents put no more than 30 percent of their monthly income towards rent. For many getting by on nothing more than Social Security, that might mean just covering utilities. 

The building was first developed as public housing known as Elm Haven in the early 1970s and last renovated in the 1990s, when owners Beacon Communities and Corcoran Jennison worked with the city’s public housing authority to reimagine the site as ​“Monterey Place.”

The renovations began in 2021 and did not displace any residents while work was underway. The project was financed with tax-exempt bonds and low-income housing tax credits from the Connecticut Housing Finance Agency, tax credit equity from the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, subordinate financing from the Connecticut Department of Housing, and a first mortgage from BlueHub Capital in addition to an existing loan from the Housing Authority of New Haven and benefits from a real estate tax pilot agreement with the city. 

Dara Kovel, the CEO of Beacon, recalled growing up around the ​“old style public housing” in 1980s New Haven: ​“It was a place you knew not to go to — there were a lot of challenges and a lot of crime here.”

“This investment was a long, long time coming,” she said. ​“We’re very excited about what we achieved here.”

Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison said the apartments are now ​“a place seniors can be proud to live in.”

Prior to the renovations, seniors had to deal with chronic water penetration in their apartments, broken elevators, and pest infestations. On Thursday, residents celebrated the recent changes as real progress — while mentioning sustained concerns about leaky roofs and personal safety.

Morrison indirectly acknowledged some of those complaints: ​“Now things aren’t perfect. I know some of y’all said, ​‘this didn’t get fixed, that didn’t get fixed.’ It will. It will. Don’t worry about it — it’s not raining on your head anymore and I wanna keep you dry so you can tell us some of the things that aren’t fixed.” 

“They changed everything. It’s so great now!” said Paul Crocker, the president of Edith Johnson’s tenants resident council, who’s lived in his apartment for nine years. ​“We still have some problems — residents come to me and say they’ve got some leaks in their ceilings. But before it was really run down. It looked nothing like this. Now it’s a real nice space.”

“The hallways don’t stink anymore,” tenant Jackie Reilly, 70, told the Independent. ​“When I first got here, my kids dropped me off and my daughter cried about the smell.”

She said she’s lived at the apartment for the past two years, before which she was living between her children’s homes following a car accident that left her unable to work. 

“My friend who lives here told me to apply. They called me after six months and I can’t tell you how grateful I was! I do not want to live with my kids nor do I want my kids living with me.”

As happy as she was to have a new home, Reilly said she started self-isolating when she first came to the apartments, facing feelings of shame about her recent housing instability.

But the apartment’s resident service coordinator encouraged her to attend events around the complex, and Reilly soon ​“got out of my own way” and ​“found a lot of good friends here which has really helped me.”

Now, she’s the secretary for the tenants resident council and takes it upon herself to organize activities for her neighbors, like picnics, crafts and exercise classes.

The new community space ​“is beautiful,” she said. ​“We have a lot of people who keep to themselves,” but she hopes the fresh paint might draw more people into the shared space for dances, dinners, and holiday celebrations.

Suddenly, Reilly heard ​“Uptown Funk” playing on the speakers outside. ​“Oh, I love this song!” she said, throwing her arms into the air. ​“I’m a young 70.”