What This Story Is About
- The Tennessee Housing Development Agency and the Oak Ridge Housing Authority on Thursday celebrated the rehabilitation of 70 public housing units, part of a $40 million project that includes 104 new units under construction in Scarboro.
Why It Matters
- Catron said the authority has had 1,000 to 3,000 households on its waiting lists at times, while it has only 128 units and there isn’t enough affordable housing stock to serve them.
- Families who were moved out during the work are in the process of moving back, and construction in Scarboro is expected to finish over the coming year.
For Context
- The authority’s developments were built in the 1970s and early 1980s, and the project is financed in part through low-income housing tax credits awarded by THDA.
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (WVLT)— The Tennessee Housing Development Agency and the Oak Ridge Housing Authority on Thursday celebrated the rehabilitation of 70 public housing units. The rehabilitation is part of a project that also includes 104 new units under construction in the Scarboro community.
The Oak Ridge Preservation Project is a multi-site rehabilitation financed in part through low-income housing tax credits awarded by the Tennessee Housing Development Agency, known as THDA. Maria Catron, executive director of the Oak Ridge Housing Authority, said the entire effort costs a little over $40 million and covers the authority’s 128 existing units plus the 104 new units.
Rehabilitation work
Catron said the housing authority has worked on redeveloping its entire portfolio for about two and a half years. She said substantial rehabilitation of this site started last fall.
Residents were moved out temporarily during the work, Catron said. Families are in the process of moving back…