Housing agency seeking grant for sewer pipes

Project at Hillcrest Towers estimated to cost $3 million

FAYETTEVILLE — The Housing Authority will apply for an emergency grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to replace the sewer pipes at Hillcrest Towers, a project estimated at $3 million.

Hillcrest Towers, a 12-story high-rise downtown with 120 units, provides public housing for the elderly and disabled. Last year, pipes gave out in a section of the building and spilled sewage into the Housing Authority’s office. A contractor checked the lines and found the entire system in the building, constructed about 50 years ago, needed replacement, said Deniece Smiley, Housing Authority executive director.

The Housing Authority Board during a special meeting Monday approved applying for an emergency grant under the federal Public Housing Capital Fund Program. A key part entails pulling out of the process to move Hillcrest Towers from public housing and make it part of the Rental Assistance Demonstration program.

The program, a project-based form of Section 8, allows public housing authorities to receive private money for capital expenses. Former President Barack Obama’s administration created the program to tackle a $26 billion nationwide backlog of deferred maintenance, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development website. The public-private partnership enables housing authorities to still receive federal money for operational costs but requires money for building repair and maintenance come from outside sources.

Housing authorities across the country have turned to the Rental Assistance Demonstration program as federal money for public housing has dwindled

over the years. This year, President Donald Trump proposed cutting $6.2 billion from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Congressional leaders over the weekend agreed to fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year. The appropriations bill will increase the Public Housing Capital Fund by $41.5 million from fiscal 2016 but cut the Public Housing Operating Fund by $100 million.

The $3 million price tag for the Hillcrest Towers repair far exceeds the Housing Authority’s budget for capital expenses. For example, Housing and Urban Development awarded the Housing Authority $239,360 for maintenance in 2016, down from $357,929 in 2008.

Emergency money must go to the needed repairs and not anything else. The Housing Authority has used more than $3.5 million in emergency grants since 2012 to make a number of fixes at Hillcrest Towers, including extensive repair to the outside of the building and replacing the fire alarm and heating systems. Money for other repair in the same time frame, such as repaving the parking lot and a current project to renovate the kitchens and replace floor tiles in 30 units, has come in the capital expenses budget.

Hillcrest Towers would no

longer be eligible to receive large-scale emergency money from the federal government if it became part of the Rental Assistance Demonstration program. The Housing Authority would have to get loans and take on a debt it likely couldn’t bear, Smiley said.

To be able to make the necessary repair, the Housing Authority Board declined the Rental Assistance Demonstration program’s award to enter into housing assistance for Hillcrest Towers, which it received in February. The application for emergency money will go into a pool with thousands of others, but the Housing Authority should know within a few months if Housing and Urban Development has granted the request, Smiley said.

The board can decide in the future if it wants to reapply to put Hillcrest Towers under the Rental Assistance Demonstration program but the process would start over, Smiley said.

The estimated $3 million needed to replace the sewer pipes doesn’t include what it might cost to move residents while the work goes on. Chairman Mike Emery acknowledged the need for the repair but said he saw the process as a logistical nightmare.

“What has to be done has to be done,” Commissioner Carma Unruh said.