Rents for some of Howard County's lowest-income public housing residents are going up for the first time in decades, starting Dec. 1.
The county's Housing Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to increase rents at Hilltop Housing, a first move in changing the way the county's oldest public housing complex in Ellicott City operates.
"We need to stop some of the [financial] bleeding," county housing director Stacy L. Spann told the five commissioners. Spann said he also wants, as yearly leases expire and units become vacant, to begin bringing in families with slightly higher incomes who can pay more rent. Eventually, in two or three years, he hopes to begin a major redevelopment of the county-financed 40-year-old brick townhouse and apartment complex. Spann said no existing residents would be forced out of the complex by renovations.
Rents have remained at 30 percent of each tenant's reported income since Hilltop was built, Spann said, and income falls far short of maintenance needs. After so much time, the buildings need major renovations, especially of plumbing and heating-cooling systems, he said. A dozen of the 94 units are now vacant, Spann said, and he has waited to fill them until the board's vote. The county has a waiting list for Hilltop with 3,500 names on it.
Under the new plan, the complex's minimum rent will double from $100 to $200 in two six-month steps as leases expire starting Dec. 1. Other current residents will see a 10 percent increase, while new residents after Oct. 1 will pay higher rents to start. Eventually, half the units will be occupied by people with higher incomes who will pay still more. The elderly, disabled and hardship cases will be exempt from the higher rents.
"We have not done a restructuring of the rental process. It's decades old. We've not raised rents so we've not kept pace with the increasing cost of maintaining the property." He said Hilltop has been "woefully undermaintained" over time.
This fiscal year the complex is projected to cost the commission $319,343 more to operate than what is collected as rent. The land and buildings are wholly owned by the self-supporting commission, since the county government originally built Hilltop without federal or state aid.
The commissioners agreed with Spann, who said residents were informed of the changes at a community meeting Sept. 9. No residents attended the commission meeting at the county's Gateway building in Columbia.
