Scores of apartments that could be used to house Chattanooga’s poor sit empty instead.
The Chattanooga Housing Authority is like many such agencies across the country, saddled with a perennial backlog of needed repairs and not enough money to address them all.
CHA officials said the public housing site most in need of repairs is Harriet Tubman, where nearly 21 percent of its 440 units cannot be used because of major problems such as leaky roofs and plumbing, faulty electrical wiring and the presence of asbestos. Some units have been vacant for as long as eight years.
The picture is far better at CHA’s other 11 public housing complexes, with vacancy rates all below 7 percent and turnaround times under six months.
In all, CHA has 186 vacant units that need repairs before they can be occupied. Almost half of those — 92 — are at Harriet Tubman.