The Bloomington Housing Authority hopes to buy five apartment buildings across town this fall. It could preserve 924 mid-level housing units.
The complexes are Kingston Manor at 3200 E Longview Ave, Basswood at 1000 S Basswood Cir, Northcrest at 1440 N Woodburn Ave, Woodland Springs at 3111 S Leonard Springs Rd and Summit Pointe at 701 E Summit View Pl.
Executive Director Nathan Ferreira said earlier this month that older, market rate units like these are becoming scarcer in Bloomington.
“If they're anywhere near campus, they're getting bought by developers, (demolished) and redeveloped for luxury student housing,” Ferreira said. “We want to prevent some of that, and we want to preserve these units around town.”
The BHA hopes to maintain current rent prices. As “workforce housing,” eligibility would be limited to households earning 150 percent or less of the area median income – $104,000 for a single person household in Bloomington. Some units would be converted to subsidized housing, but that wouldn’t happen for at least five years.
To buy the apartments, it plans to sell up to $100 million in revenue bonds. It will first need to receive a credit rating to determine an interest rate.
The BHA hopes to close the purchase around the end of October, but that could change.
As a housing authority, the BHA develops low-income housing and distributes vouchers from the federal government to renters. It’s an independent government unit which receives most of its funding from federal programs.
The BHA currently operates three low-income rental complexes with 320 units: Walnut Woods, Reverend Butler and Crestmont.
