Housing Authority Eyes Purchase Of 65 Hill Apartments

by Allan Appel

19-21 Hurlburt Street.

The housing authority has taken the first steps to purchase 65 units of struggling residential housing — much of it unoccupied and/or dilapidated — clustered around Hurlburt and Rosette streets in the Hill.

The Housing Authority of New Haven’s board of directors took those steps Tuesday during their latest monthly meeting, held at 360 Orange St.

The commissioners voted unanimously to execute and deliver what is formally known as a Letter of Intent (LOI) to purchase a handful of properties currently owned by the affordable housing nonprofit NeighborWorks New Horizons.

Those properties are located at 518-526 Howard Ave.; 202-216 Davenport Ave.; 198-200 and 208-208 Putnam St.; 4, 19, 27, 28, 31, 32, and 59 Hurlburt St.; and 139, 140, 162, 165, and 172 Rosette St.

Shenae Draughn, president of Elm City Communities (the umbrella organization that includes the housing authority and its development and management subsidiaries), said that the working purchase price estimate for all 65 units is $3 million, but that is subject to appraisal.

“When we have a number, we’ll come back to you,” she told the commissioners.

Draughn said her impression is that following the challenges of Covid and with a desire to focus on other areas of the city for its affordable housing development, NeighborWorks New Haven has put these units on the market.

“There are 70,000 units of affordable housing needed” in the state of Connecticut, Draughn said, in remarks after the meeting. “So when we see a large clustering available, that’s a real opportunity.”

A NeighborWorks New Horizons representative did not respond to a request for comment by the publication time of this article.

In pursuit of the organization’s goal of increasing affordable housing — and nurturing community around it — Draughn said that ECC frequently works with nonprofit developers as well as private partners to finance, plan, and to build.

If purchased and rehabilitated, the 65 units would join ECC’s large portfolio of scattered sites housing complementing its ongoing major on-site projects such as Union Square and the former Hamilton Street clock factory site, among others.

“We want to take these over and make them livable and affordable,” said Draughn.

Once the letter of intent is delivered and accepted, the next step is an appraisal.

“We’re doing our due diligence, assessing the conditions, how much rehabilitation, how much debt there might be to pay,” she said.

Commissioner Danya Keene wanted to know the percentage of occupancy at present.

“There are many vacancies,” Draughn replied.

Also on Tuesday, the commissioners authorized — among a slew of other resolutions — pre-development work to replace the West Rock Community Center building at 25 Wilmot Rd., which ECC staff concluded had outlived its usefulness. The proposed new building may potentially include a swimming pool.

Commissioners also voted to increase what is termed the “Housing Choice Voucher Payment Standard” to align with the rising Fair Market Rent (FMR) in New Haven.

“We don’t want families to be unable to use these vouchers, so, after an analysis, we are upping it … above or below the FMR depending on changes” within areas of the city, Draughn said.

As Tuesday’s gathering was the annual review meeting, in addition to the monthly meeting, commissioners voted officers among themselves:

William Kilpatrick remains chair, Danya Keene vice chair, and Elmer Rivera and Kevin Alvarez were elected assistant treasurer and assistant secretary, respectively.

518 Howard Ave.

The housing authority’s current stats.