The Providence Housing Authority, citing competition from Section 8 housing, will convert 15 to 20 percent of its efficiency units into one-bedroom apartments to increase their marketability.
The authority, which manages subsidized housing for families, the elderly and disabled, will convert the units over the next three years, said director Stephen J. O’Rourke.
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he housing authority has 1,141 units designated for the elderly and disabled. Sixty-five percent of those units are efficiencies.
“We’re in a very competitive market with privately owned Section 8 (houses),” O’Rourke said. “It’s amazing. We’ve got a lot of fussy people.” He said of every two units he shows, one is turned down.
Most do so because they can find more spacious accommodations in a Section 8 house. In the housing complexes, three efficiency units can be transformed into one, one-bedroom apartment. There are about 750 efficiency units now. The cost will be about $25,000 per conversion, O’Rourke said.
The conversions are part of the planned improvements the authority will make at each of its housing developments. O’Rourke noted that the conversions are part of the strategic plan, which he said has be flexible enough to meet the demands of the housing market.
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Housing authorities have to start acting like businesses,” he said. “The (housing) market keeps changing.”
The improvement money comes from the authority’s annual modernization grant it receives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This year, it received $3.9 million.
In all, state housing authorities received $10.1 million in HUD modernization grants this year. The money goes toward capital and maintenance improvements. One of the highlights of the Providence authority’s plans is the building of a new community service center and site office at Codding Court on Dodge Street. The building will cost $600,000 and is expected to open next summer, O’Rourke said. Computer laboratories, and spaces for after-school groups, theater and drama groups, and other activities will be housed there, he said.
The Woonsocket Housing Authority, which received $2.6 million in modernization funds, will embark on a series of physical improvements, such as updating 50-year-old water meters and electrical upgrades for its 30-year-old, 10-story high-rise apartments.
The authority also plans to convert some efficiency units into common areas, said Assistant Director for Operational Development Duncan Speel, who said there is not a big need for efficiency units now.
Private Section 8 developers have been out of the efficiency market for some time now, noted John Calcagni, modernization coordinator for the Pawtucket Housing Authority, who said Pawtucket will also convert a section of its efficiency units. Many of the efficiency units built in public housing were built before there was much competition, he said. Pawtucket received $1.5 million in grants.
“Over the last couple decades there’s been a greater move toward larger apartments with more amenities, as it should be,” Calcagni said.
The Woonsocket Housing Authority will also use its grant money to finance a series of residential service programs, including health services and community policing. Some of the money will go toward staff training, Speel said. The authority has family service coordinators who work in the authority’s family complexes, where computer training, English as a second language, GED, and other self-sufficiency programs are available.
Other housing authorities receiving modernization grants were: Central Falls, $376,164; East Providence, $619,569; Lincoln, $330,610; and Warwick, $661,087.
