Residents frustrated with dramatic increases to monthly rent were drawn to a public hearing held by the Housing Authority of Montezuma County on Thursday to discuss the issue.
Roughly 30 residents who live in apartments owned and operated by the Housing Authority attended the meeting, which concerned rent for 150 units at four tax-credit properties.
Housing Authority Executive Director Pamela Flowers outlined three options to soften the rate increases already approved by the board last month.
The Housing Authority was established by Montezuma County Commissioners nearly 50 years ago and operates under state and federal laws to provide affordable housing to Montezuma County residents, as well as Dolores and La Plata counties.
During public comment, the moods of some attendees adjusted.
Several tenants who spoke thanked Flowers and staff for their added work on the situation and for listening to their concerns, while many added they are still concerned about their rent increases, general affordability, living on a fixed income and the daily struggles to pay for food, gas and utilities as prices continually rise.
The authority operates four programs, each following different rules. It offers public housing, multifamily housing, its housing-choice voucher program, and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program.
The Housing Authority said it uncovered rents for its Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program were not consistent among all units.
Flowers said prior staff had no process, which meant they weren’t complying with fair housing laws. The Housing Authority was also not compliant with the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, which manages the program, because some rental rates did not meet the definition of “affordable.”
In some cases, residents in the same property with the same bedroom count and Area-Median-Income designation were paying dramatically different rates. In a three-bedroom apartment at Prairie Mesa Estates, for example, somebody paid $750 a month while another tenant paid $1,388.
While rents are decreasing under the new policy, Thursday’s meeting was to determine if the Housing Authority could become compliant with affordable housing rules without immediately imposing steeper costs to others.
“This is not about ‘we want to raise rent because we need more money,’” Flowers said. “These folks living here today are taking the brunt of prior staff setting the flat rate. …The tenants didn’t do anything wrong; they didn’t lie or defraud the program.”
However, she said, while the housing authority complies in many ways, it needs a policy that’s across-the-board consistent each year.
Housing Authority staff have already calculated new rents the board approved in April. Those are based on LIHTC rules and new rent tables from CHFA, involving a range of factors such as a percentage of the local Area Median Income established every year by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
For Montezuma County, this year’s area median income is $68,200.
The apartments are also adjusted down to the legal standard for affordability. “Affordable housing” means a tenant is paying no more than 30% of their monthly income.
Additionally, a person receives a utilities credit that decreases the rent slightly each month.
With new rates, approximately half the tenants’ rent went down. Some rents increased by a hundred dollars or more, and some units saw a larger hike of about 60%.
The question before the board Thursday evening was how to phase in those increases for affected tenants. Staff presented four options.
Flowers recommended option three, which would gradually increase rents by using the lowest rent in a comparable unit group plus 20% increments. She told the board this could limit the immediate impact on tenants but would get rent to the necessary target, likely within three years.
“Option three moves the needle to CHFA requirements the slowest way. So, we are still getting into compliance,” Flowers said, adding that no tenant under the third option would have their rent increase by more than 20% of their current rent.
Tenants said they are worried about the financial impact of rent increases, but many of them ultimately supported the effort to phase them in, urging the board to adopt the third option.
A resident at Brubaker Place Apartments spoke of working 56 hours a week and still just getting by, saying she looked around and “was scared for everyone.”
Tenant Becky Walker, said she looked at the numbers and her rent was going up the least.
“I am lucky because I am not just on social security,” Walker said. “I am OK but I will have to cut back on something.”
Lara Blair, another tenant, said most renters have good relationships with property managers but requested better communication from higher administration to “keep them in the loop.”
“I do appreciate the turn of tone,” Blair said. “We came in thinking it was going to be a disaster scene, but this seems a compassionate way to get into compliance.”
Commissioner Jim Candelaria moved to approve option three. The motion was seconded, and it passed unanimously. Other commissioners serving on the board include chair Chris Ludington, Glenn Rickert and Gina Montoya.
awatson@the-journal.com
