Elyria will not oppose Wilkes Villa renovation

Elyria will not oppose the renovation of the Wilkes Villa property through a federally supported public private partnership. Raise Up, formerly the Lorain Metropolitan Housing Authority, has announced plans to undertake a $25 million project to replace all of the 174 apartment units at Wilkes Villa. Despite concerns expressed by some members of City Council, Elyria's Finance and Community Development committees voted not to object to the project on Monday. The project will be carried out through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Rental Assistance Demonstration, or RAD, program. As a part of that program's process, HUD sent letters to the city, the Lorain County Board of Commissioners and Carlisle Township (because it is within a half mile of the project) asking if they objected to the project. Colleen Dattilio, Raise Up chief financial and development officer, said that a vote in objection would not necessarily have stopped the project, but it would have lodged the city's opposition with the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, OHFA. Members of Council expressed concerns about how the construction would impact Wilkes Villa residents or the city's roads, but both committees voted not to object. Additionally, Dattilio said at the meeting that Raise Up had submitted its funding request to HUD on Monday. The RAD program would allow Raise Up, as the regional housing authority, to enter into a partnership with two private entities, split the ownership of the property and obtain funding to carry out the renovations. The private partners on the Wilkes Villa project are The Finch Group, a Florida developer, and TFG Housing Resources of Columbus, which specializes in affordable housing development and consulting. Both private partners will receive a low income tax credit in exchange for funding part of the $25 million project, which will be augmented with federal money delivered through OHFA. Raise Up would continue to manage the property, and after 15 years ownership of Wilkes Villa would revert to Raise Up alone. The program will also change Wilkes Villa from a public housing project to a multi-family funding program, a longer-term voucher program with funding based on the project, rather than individual subsidies based on income. Both fall under the Housing Choice Voucher Program, commonly called Section 8. Dan Scheinman, senior vice president of finances for TFG, who called into the meeting by phone, said that no current residents of Wilkes Villa would lose their eligibility due to this change, and all would have a guaranteed right to return to their unit once it was renovated. Dattilio said that the RAD program has been used with success across Ohio and the country, and that it was the best way for the housing authority to bring money into Wilkes Villa for badly needed upgrades. The renovation would eventually see every unit on the property reconstructed with new amenities and in-unit air conditioning. The plan to replace the old units is to use vacant units on the lot to move families out of their old unit for renovation, and then back into the same unit following its completion. Dattilio said the plan was to keep all families on-site in another unit throughout the six phases of redevelopment. "We are already working on vacant units so that nobody will have to move out of the community," she said. Dattilio also said that the project had hired a relocation specialist to work with all the families on the property with moving between units during construction. "This should be seamless for them," Dattilio said. "The only thing is the inconvenience of the move, but they are going to get, on the back end, a new unit." The redevelopment would take place in six stages, and Dattilio said both the Lorain County Health and Dentistry facility and the Horizon South Elyria Child Care Center on the property would remain open throughout the project. Some members of Council, including Mary Siwierka, D-3rd Ward, and Brand Armstrong, I-5th Ward, who represents Wilkes Villa, expressed concerns over whether keeping all families on site was feasible. "I am just hoping everything goes accordingly, because if not we are going to have a lot of potentially homeless families," Armstrong said after the meeting. "Because say if they can't use their voucher and they are not going to have anywhere to go, so that's my concern." Dattilio said that all residents of Wilkes Villa were guaranteed housing as a part of the project budget. Even if Raise Up were to not have enough open units at Wilkes Villa to relocate a family, the project would have to find them housing outside the property and pay for their rent and relocation expenses. Siwierka pointed out that Wilkes Villa is split between Midview schools and Elyria schools, and said she was worried that students being moved between units or off the property may run into issues attending the school they were already attending. Dattilio said that she had been in discussion with both school districts about that concern, but there was not yet a plan in place to handle it. Councilwoman Donna Mitchell, D-6th Ward, said that her concern was that the federal government, under President Donald Trump, may take money away from the program in its pursuit of federal spending cuts. "Listen, we are living it every day," Dattilio said. "We are continuing to keep a glass-half-full mentality, because we have residents that rely on us. So we talk strategy about the worst case scenario, but as I introduced at the beginning, this process is running very smoothly… But to answer your questions truthfully, we don't know what tomorrow holds." Raise Up expects to submit its project plans to the city either this month or in August, Dattilio said, and to begin construction in November of 2025. The project is projected to take a total of 18 months, with each phase of relocation and construction taking four to five months. Ruscilli Construction of Dublin will carry out the work. Ruscilli is also the contractor for the Foster Senior Lofts housing project on Bond Street in Elyria. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.