By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
The Housing Authority of Glasgow is building eight new public housing units on Moran Street, across from Extreme Gymnastics, as low-cost housing needs increase across Kentucky and throughout Barren County.
According to the housing need assessment conducted by Barren Inc. last year, Barren County is about 3,000 units away from every family having a home, and with the Housing Authority at 99 precent occupancy, Sheri Lee, executive operations officer at the authority, said these new units will partially meet that need.
“We have noticed an increase in families applying for housing, or in need of housing, and we’ve also noticed the demand for housing has increased here locally,” Lee said.
Lee said the new units will all be in one building, an eight-plex, and will have one bedroom, a kitchen, an “open living room and dining room” and a restroom. In total, Lee said, each unit will be roughly 1,000 square feet. Two of the eight units will be fully accessible to handicapped individuals, Lee said.
This eight-plex will join the three other two bedroom public houses on Moran Street that were built in 2012, Lee said.
Lee said based on Housing and Urban Development rules there is a certain number of public houses they can own and operate, therefore these new units will take the place of older houses the authority has.
“We can’t develop new public housing by rules and regulations through HUD,” Lee said. “We have a set number of public housing units that we manage and maintain so we’re taking off eight older units and replacing them with the eight new units on Moran Street.”
“Those new units will replace an old eight-plex on South Morgan Street. Those families will be given a housing voucher through the section 8 program. So they’re not going to be displaced, they’re not going to lose housing assistance, they’re just going to get it through a different housing program,” Lee added.
The funds for this eight-plex were gotten through a capital grant fund, Lee said.
“Housing authorities have to submit a five year plan and HUD reviews it and approves it,” Lee said. “Once Congress appropriates funds some will go toward capital improvements for public housing and we have put aside so much of our funds over the past three or four years in order to raise the money to build those eight units.”
Lee said they have had some setbacks in the construction like the weather, but perhaps the biggest setback, Lee said, was the shipping and delivery of a meter base.
“We had ordered a box for all eight meters to go in back in June of last year and we still have not received it,” Lee said. “The contractors have been in touch with the manufacturer and they can not give us a ship date or tracking numbers.”
Despite this setback, Lee said, the authority has an alternative solution and she is hoping to conduct the final inspection in late August or early September.
According to Lee, the authority has several waiting lists based on the type of housing requested, with one and two bedroom units having the longest list. She also said there has already been community interest.
“Our contractors are seeing people stop and ask ‘what do I got to do to rent one of those units?’” Lee said. “There has already been a lot of interest in folks who are wanting or are interested in moving there.”
Comments