A handful
of low income residents living in the Mesa Grande Apartments in south
Carlsbad have been given the option to pay their rent at market price
or move.
Until three years ago, the apartment complex on Forrest
Drive provided housing for residents who qualified for low-income and
tax-credit housing. But that all changed when the complex went into
foreclosure and was purchased by a company in California.
The
company was under state and federal mandate to keep its low-income and
tax-credit tenants for three years after the purchase.
Jo Kelley
Barber, 79, who has lived at the complex for eight years, said
residents receiving low-income and tax-credit housing payments through
the federal Housing and Urban Development program were put on notice
three years ago that the HUD contract with Mesa Grande would expire in
August of this year.
Barber said she and fellow low-income renters have looked for affordable housing, but without success.
Barber plans to come before the City Council today to voice her concern
over the lack of "decent" affordable housing in Carlsbad.
She
said that earlier this month she received a letter from management of
the apartment complex giving her 60 days notice of the rent increase.
She said she has looked for housing that she can afford on her monthly
Social Security income, but has had no success.
The letter states that in order for Barber to stay in her apartment, she will need to pay the rent increase. If she chooses to stay, her rent on Aug. 1 will go from $344 a month to $595 a month, in addition to a $150 security deposit.
The letter adds that HUD has said it would still pay the amount of rent
it has paid in the past, but the tenant would have to pay for any
additional rent increases and deposits.
"I brought my four boys
to Carlsbad from Albuquerque 38 years ago, bought a house here and
raised my sons here," she said. "I had to leave Carlsbad for a short
time on three occasion, but I always came back home. I had planned to
spend the rest of my life here. However, I must give up the apartment
where I have lived for the past eight years. My rent is going to
increase nearly double, so I am forced to leave. If I could find an
affordable and decent place here, I would stay. There is no affordable
housing for me in Carlsbad. There are waiting lists for apartments
everywhere."
Other items on the agenda include:
1. Routine and regular business.
2. Board appointments to city boards.
3. A public hearing and consideration of an ordinance authorizing the
issuance of New Mexico Gross Receipts Tax Revenue Bonds totaling $8.3
million to finance public street and infrastructure projects and
related costs.
4. Consider approval of a CDBG grant for street and drainage improvements on South Tenth Street.
5. Consideration and a possible approval of several resolutions and grant agreements.
The Carlsbad City Council will meet today at 6 p.m. at the Municipal Building, 101 N. Halagueno St.
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