ANSONIA – The Ansonia Housing Authority held its first regular meeting for 2024 on Jan. 24. Here are the highlights.
63 Woodlawn: Coming in Over Budget
Planned renovations to the James J. O’Donnell Apartments on Woodlawn Avenue may be scaled back after bids for the project came in massively over budget.
In the meeting, Deputy Director Jared Heon announced that bids to rehabilitate the 40-unit public senior housing complex had come in $1 million over budget.
AHA was awarded $1.5 million from the state’s Community Block Development Grants (CBDG) program to renovate the complex in 2021. According to the state’s press release, the money would fund improvements including “elevator replacement, generator replacement, replacement of interior and exterior doors, windows, roofing, unit heater replacement, and interior and exterior common area lighting.”
According to Heon, the AHA didn’t get permission from the state to use the money until last year. When the bids from construction companies came in last October, he was staring at costs closer to $2.5 million. He blamed cost increases in part for the budget gap, but both he and Ansonia’s Director of Economic Development Sheila O’Malley agreed that increases don’t account for the gap in full.
“We didn’t get awarded the go-ahead until 2023,” Heon said during the meeting. “The prices jumped, but there’s a big difference there, so we have to figure that out.”
Heon remained hopeful that additional funding can be found. He said he’s continuing to meet with the AHA’s grant consultant, Tom Foley, to find that funding.
O’Malley struck a slightly more pessimistic tone when asked about the budget gap, agreeing that the city will continue to look for additional funding while maintaining that cutbacks may be necessary.
“Tom [Foley] is quite confident that we can get additional funding for this project,” she told The Valley Indy over the phone. “If we can’t, we’re going to shave down what was proposed.”
The apartment complex went up in 1973. A 2021 CT Post article quotes O’Malley as saying that it has not seen renovations in about twenty years.
One Holbrook Place
During the AHA’s meeting, Heon said that work is moving quickly at One Holbrook Place, and that it may open to new residents soon.
“We are looking at potential occupancy in March. That’s our goal,” he told the Board of Commissioners.
The AHA purchased One Holbrook Place from attorney Gregory Stamos for $380,000 in July 2021. A permit was obtained last September for “total interior renovation of [a] 6 family residential dwelling.” Each of the six units will have three bedrooms, according to Heon.
First right of refusal will be given to families displaced by the demolition of the Riverside Apartments on Olson Drive. This means the AHA will need to reach out to those displaced families who are eligible for the new apartments before they can accept any other tenants.
Resident Advisory Board to Come Back
During the meeting, Tenant Commissioner Kim’mula Eason alleged that tenants were not being properly notified of changes in housing policy. This led the AHA to re-establish an old institution on its properties.
In particular, she said that letters notifying tenants of changes in maintenance fees were not properly distributed. This issue was also brought up at an AHA meeting last September.
“Y’all are only there eight hours out of the day,” Eason told the Board. “I’m there 24/7. They come to me six o’ clock in the morning, they come knock on my door at ten o’ clock. They see me all the time, rushing to the doctor’s, they’re there. I go shopping, they’re there. And they’re all talking about that one letter.”
Eason directed her complaints to Executive Director Steven Nakano, who was not present at the meeting.
Heon said in a phone call with The Valley Indy that a letter had been sent out, and that Eason had requested a second letter to clarify the changes in maintenance fees. According to Heon, Nakano pushed back against this request, arguing that a second letter would be more confusing.
Heon suggested at the meeting’s end that the AHA re-establish the Resident Advisory Board, which used to exist on AHA properties but shut down during the pandemic. A motion to restart the Board passed unanimously.
Heon said that many of the details of the Board will need to be worked out. He described the idea of the Board as “a sounding board” for tenants to bring up problems directly with the AHA.
Waitlists Purged and Closed, Will Reopen in February
The AHA has completed its annual purge of its federal and state elderly housing waiting lists. A communication from the AHA was due back from those currently on the waiting list by January 16. Communications that weren’t returned were removed from the system.
The waiting list application will reopen on February 1 at midnight. Applicants will then be able to apply online here, or pick up a paper copy at AHA’s office.
The next regular meeting of the AHA is scheduled for Wed., Feb. 28. It will be conducted virtually over Zoom.
