Chattanooga Housing Authority eyes new housing off Shallowford Road

Mark Straub, right, development officer for PENNROSE, presents his proposal for a new development on Chattanooga Housing Authority property to the CHA board at a Tuesday meeting.
Mark Straub, right, development officer for PENNROSE, presents his proposal for a new development on Chattanooga Housing Authority property to the CHA board at a Tuesday meeting.

The Chattanooga Housing Authority's management partner Pennrose Properties is seeking tax credits to build Cromwell Pointe, an $11.6 million workforce housing apartment complex near Cromwell Hills Apartments, located just off Shallowford Road behind the airport.

If the tax credits are awarded, the 56-unit complex will be built on CHA's property off Cromwell Road and Pennrose will lease the property from the housing authority.

It's the second time Pennrose has applied for the tax credits.

The units will be workforce housing, intended to house people with jobs or enrolled in school. The development will include two- and three-bedroom plans and look similar to CHA's LEED-certified Maple Hills apartments, also developed by Pennrose, off North Chamberlain Avenue.

Pennrose will submit an application to the Tennessee Housing Development Agency for the tax credits by Feb. 3. The THDA is expected to notify Pennrose if it is qualified around June or July. If it is, the management company has until December to complete paperwork. And construction must start by March 2016. The site must be finished and occupied by the end of 2017, said Naveed Minhas, CHA's vice president of development.

The proposed apartment site was among several presentations and discussions at the Chattanooga Housing Authority's board meeting Tuesday. It was the first authority board meeting of the year.

Officials also discussed budget cuts and crime.

Last year was one of the local housing authority's worst for safety, as six people died in shootings or stabbings at public housing sites in 2014.

Domestic violence accounted for four of the six deaths. One death was an accident in which an 18-year-old man in East Lake Courts accidentally shot himself in the leg.

In 2013, there were zero deaths at Chattanooga public housing sites. Public housing sites average about one homicide a year, the CHA's police Chief Felix Vess said.

photo Betsy McCright, executive director of the Chattanooga Housing Authority, speaks to reporters at the agency offices in this Jan. 26, 2015,file photo.

Vess said he's been knocking on residents' doors to establish relationships and assure that they will remain anonymous if they give information to assist with fighting crime.

"It's not worth their lives to say, 'I got this from Joe,'" Vess said. "Right now, police, law enforcement, we need information."

Also during the meeting, CHA Executive Director Betsy McCright gave a report of the housing authority's challenges and accomplishments.

CHA has survived continuous budget cuts from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, McCright said. The cuts led to losing four staff members in the Housing Choice voucher program in 2013. Having fewer staff led to CHA requiring residents to email or visit the office for Housing Choice voucher concerns instead of calling.

This is the first year the housing agency opted for a paperless application for the voucher waiting list. Having applications online requires less time to process them, according to CHA staff.

HUD also reduced payments for rent by 15 percent in 2014, which led to some landlords being unwilling to accept the vouchers. That made it hard for residents with vouchers to get lease agreements.

McCright said the good news is that more than 6,000 people applied for the waiting list this year and the process was smooth. Because of cuts made in the past, she said, the Housing Choice voucher program has a balanced budget this year.

"We make due with what we have," McCright said.

At Tuesday's meeting, CHA's board approved allocating 50 more Housing Choice vouchers to house the homeless, bringing the number of vouchers allocated for the homeless to 150.

Also announced, CHA's development manager Mike Sabin plans to install bike racks outside the main office on Holtzclaw Avenue for residents cycling to the office.

Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 757-6431.

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