The Housing Authority of Covington’s Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to extend free Wi-Fi access to City Heights apartment complex residents for another six months at their meeting on Wednesday.
The Wi-Fi is part of the Covington Connect program, established in 2020 as a partnership between the City of Covington, altafiber, Covington Independent Schools and several other corporate and civic partners.
The program aimed to increase internet access throughout the city, especially for public school students and residents in housing authority properties. According to the city’s website, there are about 124 Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the city where residents can access free internet service for their laptops and smart devices with some content restrictions.
The housing authority’s contract with altafiber was due to expire at the end of the month, said the authority’s Resident Services Director, Jon Adkins.
Adkins presented data attesting to the residents’ usage of the Wi-Fi.
“City Heights alone had 4617 total Wi-Fi sessions in July,” Adkins said. “So that tells us that the remaining residents are still utilizing the Wi-Fi at a large capacity.”
City Heights is one of the more well-known housing complexes under the authority’s administration.
Federal authorities officially approved closing the 366 apartments in the complex, which is 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 A city press release from October of that year characterized the units as “severely deteriorated, outdated, and beyond saving.”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 dispossessing the apartments and relocating the tenants to other subsidized housing throughout the city.
Chris Bradburn, the authority’s deputy director, said that only 53 of the 366 apartment units were occupied as of Wednesday evening. She added that 42 units used housing choice vouchers, formerly Section 8 vouchers, to help make rent.
Discussion among board members and staff suggested that the authority was aiming to complete the dispossession of City Heights by February or March of next year, although Bradburn said that would depend on how long it would take to find new housing for the remaining residents.
Adkins said that 14 access points within City Heights were unused, but 33 were still active. Following the vote, Adkins said that staff planned on redistributing the 14 unused access points throughout Latonia Terrace, another property administered by the housing authority. He added that this would require a separate resolution at a later time.
Adkins said the measure would “ensure that, obviously, we maintain that digital equity for our residents until the very very last day. I think that’s what they deserve.”
The housing authority will pay for the continued internet services out of its capital fund.
The next meeting of the Housing Authority of Covington’s Board of Commissioners will take place on Sept. 20 at 4:30 p.m. at the housing authority’s main office on Madison Avenue.
