Catoctin View Gets a Makeover
100 residents to be relocated temporarily
Seniors at Catoctin View Apartments will be moving out while their current home gets much-needed repairs. The Frederick Housing Authority has been trying for two years to get approval from HUD to issue housing vouchers to relocate the building’s 100 residents during renovation, and weren’t optimistic about the outcome.
In 2015, the Housing Authority applied to HUD for a demolition/disposition for the seven-story senior housing building, built in 1973. To be considered, the Motter Avenue building, or a portion of the building, has to be obsolete, making it “unsuitable for housing purposes,” according to HUD’s website.
The Housing Authority has been making repairs to resolve issues with leaking methane gas but asbestos make repairs expensive and complicated. “It’s a big production,” said Angie Liddiard, the Housing Authority’s director of economic development. The building also has no sprinkler system. “We stay on top of things and do constant repairs, but we worried we couldn’t keep doing that anymore, and the health and safety issues would become overwhelming,” said Housing Authority’s Executive Director Kevin Lollar.
HUD turned him down twice.
Lollar then traveled to HUD’s regional office in Chicago to press the issue, and according to Liddiard, the personal touch made a difference. Lollar emphasized the people who are served at Catoctin View, and the risks associated with the building. With input from HUD, Housing Authority officials restructured the application so that HUD could see the depth of the problems with the building and the impending health and safety issues.
HUD didn’t initially believe the building’s problems were severe enough to pose a health risk. “We had to convince them that we were out in front of everything, but it was getting harder and harder to maintain,” Lollar said. Congress, he said, is unwilling to appropriate the $30 billion it will cost to fix all the capital issues with HUD properties. HUD tried to steer Lollar to a new program - Rental Assistance Demonstration - that will allow housing authorities to borrow against their own properties to make repairs and renovations.
“We’d rather exhaust existing programming before jumping into a new program. My experience with HUD is that a lot of their new programs have a short life span,” Lollar said.
Catoctin View residents learned about the move recently at a community meeting. Liddiard reported that they had many questions, mostly about returning. Current residents will be first in line once the building reopens. Others want to live with or close to the friends they’ve made at Catoctin View. All of them are “excited” about the renovation, she said.
Residents will start moving immediately, with a 90-day deadline. Liddiard said that will be difficult, especially in winter, and that the Housing Authority plans to file for an extension. The housing vouchers are good for up to $1,200 for a one-bedroom apartment. Liddiard said the Housing Authority wants to make the transition as smooth as possible, and try to keep the seniors close to services and stores.
The renovation will be extensive, taking the building down to studs and concrete floors. The timeline for completion is 18 - 24 months.
