FORT WORTH, TX - The Spring Hill and Spring Glen apartments near Fort Worth's Cultural District will likely get a face-lift in coming years, after their recent purchase by the Fort Worth Housing Authority. The authority bought the complexes, which offer affordable housing to tenants on fixed incomes, three weeks ago for about $5.4 million with long-term plans to renovate. The sale will help the structures keep up with construction in the Cultural District and expand the city's base of public housing units. "We wanted to ensure that the quality of those units would be maintained and in the future improved," said Ramón Guajardo, a consultant with the housing authority.
The purchase signals a continuing effort to provide a mix of so-called affordable housing and public housing. That effort began about seven years ago with the development of the Stonegate Villas, where 58 public housing units were designated after the downtown Ripley Arnold complex was closed to make way for the RadioShack headquarters. Stonegate also has 525 market-rate apartments. Twenty of 254 units at Spring Hill will likely be designated for public housing, if approved by the Housing and Urban Development Department. At Spring Glen, which has 176 units, the authority will seek the designation for 12 units. These public housing units would be part of the authority's continued effort to replace the 268 units at Ripley Arnold.
The purchase spurred some questions in the community. Some Spring Hill and Spring Glen tenants worried that it would mean they'd have to move out. But no one will have to, according to the housing authority. Members of the Monticello Neighborhood Association, just west of the apartments, wanted more details. The apartments are a few blocks from a six-point intersection on West Seventh Street, where commercial development is under way. In the nearby Cultural District, the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History is being built, and plans were just released for expanding the Kimbell Art Museum.
Guajardo said the housing authority's purchase also allows for local control. The properties were owned by two limited partnerships based in Des Moines, Iowa. "I will be honest," Guajardo told Monticello residents. "We were fearful of an out-of-town owner." Monticello neighbors posed frank questions to Guajardo on Monday at a meeting at North Hi Mount Elementary. Will the purchase create a "projects" environment? Is the housing authority concentrating poverty in one area? What about crime? "If there is a problem, we want to deal with it," he answered. "It hurts us also."
Guajardo recommended forming a neighborhood committee that would meet with the housing authority. Residents left satisfied. "I feel pleased about the new ownership," said Judy Stempel, the association's co-chairwoman for development and zoning. "The only thing that really changed was the local ownership." The Spring Hill and Spring Glen apartments are tied to a land-use restriction agreement that requires them to be operated with rent and income restrictions through Dec. 31, 2025. "It was affordable housing prior to our purchase," said Barbara Holston, president and chief executive of the housing authority.
The apartments, built in the 1960s, were renovated using tax credits in 1997 to provide affordable housing units. Those units offer rents below the fair market value to tenants who meet income requirements. For an eligible tenant, the maximum rent for a one-bedroom apartment at Spring Hill or Spring Glen is $657 a month.
Housing choice vouchers, formerly known as Section 8, are also accepted at the apartments, Guajardo said. Fifty-two tenants of the complexes rely on the voucher program. The housing authority closed the purchase at the end of October. It plans to apply for tax credits to finance improvements so the apartments are consistent with new construction in the area, Holston said.
Robert Chenowith, 78, lives modestly on Social Security, so finding an affordable apartment three years ago at Spring Hill was a blessing. "I got a call and they said, 'You qualify,' " he said. When Chenowith heard that the housing authority had bought the property, his biggest worry was that he would have to move. He said he is relieved he won't have to because he'd be in a fix without affordable housing. "Where you going to go?" he said. "If I have any family, I have no idea who they are or where they are."
Holston said there is a continued need to provide housing options for people on fixed incomes. The poor economy has increased the demand. As of Oct. 31, 3,162 people were on the waiting list. During the same period last year, there were 995. "There is no turnover," Holston said. "People don't move."
Source: Star-Telegram.com