HUD: Help’s Here. Details To Follow

The previously faceless officials determining the fates of 288 families from the crumbling Church Street South apartment complex showed up in person Thursday night to declare that safe new housing is on the way, though key details remained sketchy.

Officials from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Massachusetts-based Northland Investment Corp. — joined by Housing Authority of New Haven (HANH) chief Karen DuBois-Walton — delivered that message at two separate hotels where families from the complex are currently staying after dangerous conditions at Church Street South forced their removal and presented the government with a mass public-health and housing emergency.

Families signed up at Thursday evening’s meetings for one-on-one sessions with HANH to begin the process of finding them federal Section 8‑subsidized apartments to move into, at least temporarily, if not for the long term. One stumbling block that emerged is the question of whether HUD’s subsidies will cover enough of the rents available at new apartments.

New Haven wasn’t hit by a hurricane or wildfires. But the feds’ response to this emergency — caused by years of slumlording and regulatory neglect — comes from the disaster playbook of Hurricane Katrina and wildfires: ​“Pods” will store belongings temporarily. Families are housed in temporary quarters. Then, ​“pass-throughs” of Section 8 subsidies will allow the families to move to real apartments, at least for a while. More permanent subsidies will keep the families in safe new places for good.

The families greeted the message with an ​“at last” approval at the first meeting, at Premiere Hotel & Suites on Long Wharf. A larger crowd at the Clarion Inn in Hamden peppered officials with more questions and blasted the handling of their temporary housing at the hotel, where some were moved this weekend from Premiere to make way for visiting Yale parents who had previously booked rooms for the campus family weekend.

“I know this is scary,” said Suzanne Piacentini (pictured), HUD’s regional field office director, to the families. ​“You’ve been through a lot. We’re here to help.”

“We appreciate the significant disruption you’ve endured by having been moved here,” said Peter Standish, vice president at Northland. He said Northland, HUD and the city are ​“working diligently” to get families quickly into ​“more suitable alternative housing.”

“I know this is very disruptive. I think we can find a way to get you into what you’re looking for as soon as possible,” HAHN Executive Director Karen DuBois-Walton (at right in photo) said. HANH has agreed to screen the tenants and work with each of them to find new subsidized apartments on behalf of Northland. ​“The way we do it is to get to know you first,” through one-one meetings to discuss the size of families’ households, where they want to live, and where their kids go to school.

“The goal is not to force you into an apartment, but find an apartment of your choice,” DuBois-Walton said. She said HANH has already located 44 apartments, which will be inspected next week by HUD and be ready to go.

The contract with Northland isn’t signed yet, but HANH has begun working on the project based on faith, DuBois-Walton said. She has assigned Shenae Draughn (pictured) to oversee the relocation of all the families. DuBois-Walton expressed confidence in HANH’s ability to do this based on its experience relocating hundreds of families during the rebuilding of public-housing developments in West Rock and Fair Haven.

Standish said 288 families in all were living at the 301-unit complex when the current crisis began. Around 45 families have been living in temporary hotel rooms since the city either condemned or ordered emergency repairs to their mold- and water-filled apartments and deteriorating staircases in recent weeks. Officials promised that those families — plus about another ten still at Church Street South but suffering medical problems because of the conditions — will receive first priority for ​“pass-throughs” of the Church Street Section 8 contract, which Northland will give landlords elsewhere in Connecticut to house tenants pending a longer-term plan. The longer-term plan involves offering all families either portable Section 8 rental certificates to bring to landlords on their own, or ​“Section 8 (bb)” subsidies tied to clusters of subsidized housing.

Landlords from throughout the region have come forward with offers of potential apartments — up to 220 units, according to HUD’s Piacentini. Rick Daughtery (pictured), director of HUD’s multiple-family housing division, predicted it will be ​“probably less than five business days from today until somebody is in” an apartment rather than a hotel room.

The plan is to eventually move all 288 families to new apartments and most likely tear down Church Street South, rebuilding a mixed-income, mixed-use development across from the train station.

Northland is hoping it gets to build that new development. Mayor Toni Harp is insisting the company take care of the current mess there before discussing the idea. After years of neglecting conditions at the property and getting cover from HUD — which supplied the $3 million-plus annual Section 8 rent subsidies at the complex — Northland suddenly found itself in the crosshairs of New Haven Legal Assistance lawyers this summer. The lawyers (including Amy Marx and Shelley White, pictured at Thursday evening’s Premiere meeting) took Northland to court over conditions at Church Street South and have amassed over 60 clients. The Harp administration followed with repeated inspections, condemnations and emergency orders. As the depth of decay at the complex emerged, along with stories of asthmatic children suffering, HUD’s hand was forced. HUD declared Northland in default of its Section 8 contract. Now, in hopes of resurrecting its reputation, Northland has worked with HUD and the city and legal aid to try to help the families previously trapped in squalor to move as quickly as possible into safe quarters.

New Haven had discussed tearing down Church Street South for years, but was stymied by both the impasse with HUD and Northland over conditions and debate over the fate of the families there. Part of the question was how many families would get a ​“right to return” to a rebuilt complex. By now, however, the notion of a right to return has given way to a rite of ​“good riddance” among many traumatized or weary tenants.

“It was beyond awful. I hated it. The drugs. The fights. The shootings,” Cristal Guevara said of living at Church Street South. Guevara (at right in photo with mom Jessica Rivera), an 18-year-old Coop High School grad and Southern Connecticut State University freshman studying biochemistry, has lived at the complex her entire life. Her dad was shot in the collarbone at the complex. ​“I’m glad it’s all moving, finally. I’m beyond excited.”

Where does Guevara want the family to end up? ​“Anywhere but” Church Street South, she said.

“I prefer to stay where I’m going to be next” rather than move back to a new Church Street South, said Natalie Gonzalez (pictured at the top of the story), who lived at Church Street South for 13 years before being relocated to a Premiere hotel room. ​“There’s a lot of drugs [at Church Street South]. There’s a lot of shooting. They don’t want to fix apartments.” In whatever future complex reprl, she said, ​“it’s going to be the same thing.”

No Promise On Rents

Officials encountered more skepticism and complaints from among the 60 Church Street South families — mostly young mothers and their kids — gathered in the basement conference room at the Clarion Inn on Whitney Avenue just north of the Route 15 overpass in Hamden, after having been relocated there from Premiere.

After the presentations Thursday night, the families peppered officials with questions.

Several women said they were already looking for apartments and wonder ​“what dollar amount” they should be looking for. They fear the HUD Section 8 subsidy won’t cover it.

“I hear what you’re saying that people should look for an apartment, but what if the HUD subsidy doesn’t equal” the market price? asked legal aid attorney Marx.

“We’ll try to make it work. We’ll look into it,” said HUD’s Piacentini.

Emily Cepeda (pictured at the top of the story) just left Church Street South with two kids and arrived at the Clarion Thursday. As she waited in line to make her HANH appointment for relocation, she said, ​“I try to maintain normalcy for my kids. I’m going from hotel to hotel. They’re going to remember they were homeless.”

Because she wants to move — and fast — she already located an apartment, in West Haven, closer than the Clarion to her work in Ansonia. The three-bedroom apartment for herself, her son Jovani, age 8, and Javeah, age 5, costs $1,600 a month.

Piacentini said as Church Street families are the office’s highest priority, she hopes to have flexibility to increase the subsidy. But she wasn’t sure if it could rise as much as another $500. The current HUD subsidy for all three-bedroom units at Church Street South is $1,061. ​“We don’t have the information tonight to see what we can raise,” she said. Given New Haven’s higher rents, the concern is that families won’t be able to afford renting apartments they end up finding. HUD officials Thursday night did not have reassurance that they’ll make up the gap, any assurance that landlords at any of the 220 identified apartment will accept the lower rents.

Courtney Boyd, who takes care of two little kids and a little sister, specifically asked how much money she’ll get to rent her apartment. DuBois-Walton then read the currently approved numbers — which sparked calls from families who now feared they’ll be left out of the cold again.

Boyd also asked one of many questions about moving furniture, much of which may have been damaged, from Church Street South: ​“What’s the point of moving to a new place without couches to sit on?” Hers were damaged beyond reuse by mold.

“We need to better understand your situation on a case by case basis,” said Northland’s Standish.

“When you sit [at your appointment], let us know that kind of thing,” said HANH’s DuBois-Walton.

“We’ve brought pods on site” from a company called Pods, Inc., of East Haven, said Northland Senior Vice President Bill Thompson. To access the storage pods, all families have to do is have one member present to supervise loading of furniture from Church Street South, at which point Northland will transport to a central location on Wheeler Avenue, about a mile from the complex. When residents have their new apartments, Northland will deliver the pod, expenses paid.

One woman asked about not damaged stuff, but stolen stuff. She said she lost four TVs and other electronic equipment, stolen from her apartment while she was at the motel.

“We’ll work it out,” on a case-by-case basis, Thompson said, as long as the company has a police report to begin with.

In the shorter term, many of the moms had questions about how to make life at the motel more endurable, especially for the kids.

One woman sought an extra bedroom, because she has one older boy and one young girl. The answer was that sharing had to continue at the motel, for now.

“Lots of people are unhappy with the hotel” conditions, said Amy Marx. Some are in rooms that are full of smoky odors.

“How can I cook for my kids?” asked Emily Cepeda. ​“There’s no kitchen” in her room, only a microwave and a small fridge. ​“I can’t cook and I don’t have money to buy prepared food.”

Many people said they want to return to Premiere. Not all will get to. It was not clear who would be permitted to in the urgent, changing, and subjective situation. In particular families complained about having too little room in their current hotel lodgings, and of seeping smoke in units where they have asthmatic children living. A dozen families said they now have no way to get kids to school from the new Hamden location.

DuBois-Walton told people they didn’t need to apologize for their frustration.

Women lined up calmly and resignedly to make their appointments with HANH relocation coordinator Michelle Rodriguez-Ford. By evening’s end she had 37 lined up for next week, 20 at Premiere, 17 at the Clarion.

As Courtney Boyd, who has been in motels for two weeks, stood in line to get her appointment — 2 p.m. on Tuesday at Premiere — she managed a smile but said the info session had not been reassuring. ​“I felt,” she said, ​“they were pushing things under the table.”

Previous coverage of Church Street South:
• Church St. South Families Displaced A 2nd Time — For Yale Family Weekend
• Church Street South Getting Cleared Out
• 200 Apartments Identified For Church Street South Families
• Northland Asks Housing Authority For Help
• Welcome Home
• Shoddy Repairs Raise Alarm — & Northland Offer
• Northland Gets Default Order — & A New Offer
• HUD, Pike Step In
• Northland Ordered To Fix Another 17 Roofs
• Church Street South Evacuees Crammed In Hotel
• Church Street South Endgame: Raze, Rebuild
• Harp Blasts Northland, HUD
• Flooding Plagues Once-Condemned Apartment
• Church Street South Hit With 30 New Orders
• Complaints Mount Against Church Street South
• City Cracks Down On Church Street South, Again
• Complex Flunks Fed Inspection, Rakes In Fed $$
• Welcome Home — To Frozen Pipes
• City Spotted Deadly Dangers; Feds Gave OK
• No One Called 911 | ​“Hero” Didn’t Hesitate
• ​“New” Church Street South Goes Nowhere Fast
• Church Street South Tenants Organize