Montgomery County’s top elected officials are balking at a request for $20 million to renovate the county’s public housing units.
The request, from the county’s Housing Opportunity Commission, is for “ongoing rehabilitation” to bolster the “curb appeal” of the county’s 1,555 public housing units. HOC officials said proposed renovations would include modernizing kitchens and bathrooms; replacing roofs, carpets, windows, doors and appliances; and improving fencing, lighting and landscaping.
The county already has approved spending $1.25 million a year to cover any shortfall of federal funds for the upkeep of the county’s dozens of public housing properties. The HOC is asking the county for an additional $20 million over the next five years.
In all, the agency said it needed about $50 million for ongoing improvements to the county’s public housing units.
“We could spend every dollar that we could possibly get,” HOC’s acting executive director, Annie Alston, said at a County Council committee meeting Monday.
But the county’s elected officials, who are facing massive projected budget deficits, said the jurisdiction didn’t have that kind of money to spend.
“There’s no way we could appropriate this money,” said Councilmman Marc Elrich, D-at large.
In the past, Montgomery officials have given “generous and consistent support” to county public housing, according to HOC Chairman Michael Kator.
Council members said they would like to see how much money for public housing upkeep the county would get from the federal stimulus package before discussing the need to make up for any potential shortfall.
Alston called the stimulus a “godsend” but said she probably wouldn’t know how much federal money the HOC would receive until the spring. She added that she doubted it would be enough to cover the county’s needs and that county officials would have to make a “tough decision.”
“Where do you put your priorities?” Alston asked. “Do you maintain your housing stock, do you let it go in ground, what do you do?”
Despite objecting to spending extra money for renovations to public housing units, both the county executive and County Council members indicated they would approve spending more than $8.4 million for fire sprinkler systems and alarms in four older public housing complexes.
The cost to the county for the fire safety upgrades averages more than $17,000 per unit.
