The Housing Authority of Covington approved its annual agency and capital improvements plan following a public hearing this week.
The plan lays out the agency’s direction for the next fiscal year, which begins on July 1 and includes information about maintenance charges, rent prices, property operations and tenant rights and responsibilities.
Public hearings, like the one held Aug. 19, allow residents of one of the housing authority’s properties as well as members of the community at large to share concerns, ask questions and offer suggestions.
“We did not get any other public comments that I’m aware of at all,” said Deputy Director Chris Bradburn. “The website, no letters, no emails, anything like that.”
As such, the board adopted the plan as it existed.
Although no one spoke at the hearing, the authority’s staff had heard feedback from resident advisory boards, comprised of elected representatives living within the housing authority’s properties, about tenant concerns.
“There were a handful of comments or concerns,” Bradburn said, “but it related to things like not allowing fireworks and not allowing lighter fluid and that kind of thing… There weren’t many concerns.”
Executive Director Steve Arlinghaus told the board about operations in the different properties.
“Under Golden Tower, the final slack line replacement has been completed,” Arlinghaus said.
This was the fourth and final phase of replacement construction for sewer systems in Golden Tower, a public housing high-rise apartment complex on 11th Street. Built in the 1960s, the complex rises 14 stories, contains 155 units and caters to residents aged 55 and older.
The sewer repair project began as a way of addressing the problem of large amounts of mineral scale buildup and infrastructure deterioration in the building. As the mineral deposits from the old pipes increased, they gathered in the lower parts of the sewer system, causing backups and clogs. The project is paid for with federal grants and will cost roughly $1 million by its completion, Arlinghaus estimated.
Residents had been moved to temporary units within the tower while crews fixed the sewers in occupied units. Arlinghaus claimed that residents were generally pleased with being able to return to their homes and were “extremely ecstatic” with the improvements, which included new water cabinets in each apartment.
“We expect to have the final residents move back into their units during the first week of May at the latest,” Arlinghaus said.
Arlinghaus also discussed the ongoing shuttering of City Heights. Federal authorities officially approved the closing of the 366 apartments in the complex, which are over half a century old, in 2021. A city press release from October of that year characterized the units as “severely deteriorated, outdated, and beyond saving.”
Following the OK from the federal government, the housing authority began the process of dispossessing the apartments and relocating the tenants therein other to subsidized housing throughout the city. 272 of the apartment units were empty as of April 14.
Finally, Arlinghaus discussed the proposed construction of a maintenance building and warehouse for the agency. Staff had initially believed such a project would cost somewhere in the realm of $3 million but, upon consulting with architects, the estimated cost came out to be between $6 million and $7 million. As a result, the agency will likely split the project into several phases, making it easier to control costs.
How the project will be funded has not been firmly established, although Arlinghaus expressed that he did not want to take out a loan to fund the project as it would “just drag the process out quite a bit longer.”
The next meeting of the Covington Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners will take place on May 17 at 4:30 p.m. at the central office on Madison Avenue.