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Prior to the business portion of this month's meeting, the Lycoming Housing Authority held a hearing for their fiscal year 2027 annual agency plan and their five-year capital fund plan.
Under the agency plan, the Authority proposes utilizing a portion of its Housing Choice tenant-based portfolio for the Project Based Voucher (PBV) program.
Under the Housing Voucher Program, the qualifying tenant is issued a voucher which they then take to a landlord who has agreed to participate in the program in order to have a portion of the rent subsidized through the program. If the tenant moves, the voucher goes with them as long as they qualify. A PBV stays with the housing unit if the tenant leaves.
"A housing choice voucher, you can take that voucher and move from apartment to apartment or from city to city. That assistance is tied to the apartment and stays with that development for the length of the contract," said MeriLyn Severson, executive director.
"Once the contract's up, we could make a decision that we're going to move our voucher someplace else, or we could renew," she added.
She explained that at the Muncie Green development there are eight project based vouchers and they will remain there for the term of that contract.
Project based vouchers also can be for a targeted population, such as at Muncie Green where they are for elderly tenants.
"You'd have to qualify under all the regulations for Section Eight, just like any other Section Eight participant," she said
"Project-based vouchers can take on different shapes and forms depending on what the targeted population is, or there could be no targeted population. At Newberry Estates, that's a family development, and you would have to just qualify for the other Section Eight, qualify as you would as a regular Section Eight voucher holder, meaning that you're extremely low income," Severson said.
The project based developments are privately owned units and houses, so the Housing Authority partners with either the current owner of a property or a developer. At Muncie Green the developer approached the authority with a vision for a development.
"It was my goal and my dream always for years. We don't have any developments in that area, and I always wanted to have something there. Not everybody who's elderly wants to move to town. They want to stay in a rural area," she said.
The authority didn't have the funds to build something, so when the developer for Muncy Green came along they decided that they could get housing assistance for the people in Muncy, especially the elderly.
"We developed a partnership with them, and we provided the vouchers for the project, and now have eight families living up there, eight elderly people," she said.
Severson explained that after one year at Muncy Green, if the tenant wants to move, they can take their voucher, which then reverts to a Housing Choice Voucher, and seek another residence, but there will always be eight Project Choice Vouchers at Muncy.
With the new proposal introduced at the hearing, the authority wants to explore possibly developing units for a more targeted population.
It was noted that the Center for Independent Living Roads to Freedom contacted the Authority to inform them of their intention to convert a property located in Williamsport into housing for individuals with special needs. They also stated that they would like to attach project-based vouchers to the project.
"The goal for me has been for a number of years, I don't feel that we have enough accessible units in Lycoming County," Severson said. "It is very difficult."
"We give vouchers to handicapped individuals who literally cannot find a place to lease up. We have a lot of elderly buildings that are accessible, but we don't have a lot of accessible homes for a younger person to go and live in. So, to me, I think that that's a need that we need to address in the county and a void that needs to be filled. So, whether that's the CIL (Center for Independent Living) or another developer, I'm hoping someday to make this work and to be able to get more accessible units out there for families and for non-elderly individuals," Severson said.
The proposal also stated that while they support CIL's plan, the Authority would need to "accept competitive proposals from all qualified property owners and/or developers."
The Authority also stated that it intends to move 20% of its operating subsidy to use for capital fund activities for 2024-2028.
Capital improvement listed include: Peter Herdic Apartments, replace Climatemaster heat pumps, $16,000 and install walk-in showers, $100,000; Round House Homes, replace kitchens, $60,000; William Hepburn Apartments, replace interior closet doors, $105,000; Robert Montgomery Homes, replace bathrooms, $60,716; PD Mitchell Apartments, replace front and back screen doors, $35,000; Mary Slaughter Apartments, replace sidewalks, $10,800; and authority wide, upgrade camera recorder system, $48,000.