Quincy housing project draws public concern

QUINCY - A Catholic Charities Housing Services project to build low income and farm worker housing drew concerns from Quincy officials.

The discussion came during a public hearing for a $375,000 Community Development Block Grant application. The city is applying for the federally-funded, state-administered grant on behalf of the charity.

The plans for the 50-unit complex call for a combination of two and three bedroom apartments, with 38 units set aside for farm workers and 12 units set aside for low-income families.

"The Quincy development will be similar in design to other successful (Catholic Charities Housing Services) developments," according to the proposal. "Children's playgrounds, a basketball court and picnic areas will be scattered throughout the community along with a community building that will include a computer lab, laundry facility, office area, kitchen, meeting rooms and a great room for community gatherings."

Sal Mancini, a Quincy resident and police officer, opposed building another low-income facility, citing concerns about crime. He was speaking as a citizen, he said.

"I commented before when there were plans ... for a trailer park, mobile home facility," he said. "Unfortunately, statistically, with low-income housing comes more crime and more problems."

He acknowledged the charity states they do a lot of screening, but he knows the housing complex in George had problems related to criminal activity.

Councilmember Scott Lybbert echoed Mancini's concerns, saying the city does have a lot of low-income housing right now and more does bring more crime.

"Personally, I would like to see you guys try something above and beyond and put that in as a gated community and have cameras at the entrances," he said. "So somebody has to step in front of a camera to go and punch their code in."

 Bryan Ketcham, the charity's Yakima director, said from a tenant's perspective it should be similar to other multi-family housing.

"I think the difference between that and just general for-profit housing is that we're much more active on site and much more engaged than even a private landlord," he said.

The charity can consider installing cameras, Ketcham said; adding the charity installed cameras at other facilities. The cameras resulted in limited success because people learn where the cameras are and avoid them. He pointed out the cameras often don't have a high enough resolution to pick up anything useful.

"We haven't done a completely gated entrance because those are very expensive, and, again, we try to be good stewards of public funds," he said.

Lybbert responded the people living in the housing would likely appreciate having the gate.

Councilmember Jose Saldana pointed out the high density apartment complexes seem to draw crime and Quincy should learn from larger cities.

"There's nothing we can do to prevent some private (company or individual) from coming in to build," he said. "But a thing like this, I think we should think about it."

Lybbert apologized for raising the concerns, saying the councilmembers did say they would support it.

"I think they are good concerns to have," Ketcham said. "From our perspective, we have researched a number of national studies that don't corroborate that low-income housing equates to increased crime, and we work very closely with local jurisdictions and we've actually implemented programs at our housing sites where we contact the police every quarter to look at calls generated from our site."

The charity takes working with the community and law enforcement seriously, Ketcham said. It has worked with the gang-free coalition in Yakima County, safe communities in Yakima County and with the Grant County Sheriff's Office. It has also established a block watch program in George.

"From our perspective certainly, we're part of the solution," he said. "As part of this proposal, you'll see ... we're planning to do 14 single homes for first-time home buyers, so there are opportunities to create wealth and begin changing the path of those families."

Ketcham addressed concerns about the charity's housing in George, saying it didn't have the best on-site manager.

"It takes a while to document and find a new manager," he said. "We've switched recently and we've seen a dramatic improvement."

The manager for the Quincy housing will work there 40 hours a week, Ketcham said. The manager will have a residence provided to them, but aren't required to live on-site. 

"It's a full-time person, but in terms of, 'Are they there 24/7?' No," he said.

He pointed out if the manager lived on site all of the time, they would be employed seven days a week and require overtime pay.

Ketcham said the project is designed to deter crime. The charity uses guidelines on the amount of people living within an area and lighting.

"One of the things that we find with developments is that we also have to meet the requirements of our funders," he said. "Funders now, as part of the green building movement, are requiring a specific density. So we try and seek to find an appropriate balance."

The charity tries to keep a density of 12 units per acre, he said. The administrators feel it keeps a balance between keeping with the rural nature of the city and meeting the requirements of the people providing funding.

"It wouldn't be congregated in one small section," Ketcham said. "We seek to balance out a site."

Saldana questioned where the money for the project was coming from and who would receive money from it.

Ketcham said the funding is a combination of loans, grants and a federal program which gives private investors tax credits for investing.

"So in other words, somebody is making money with tax money," Saldana said. "Some of these buildings and apartment complexes are being built with tax money where somebody is going to benefit directly with taxpayer money (under) the umbrella of low-income housing."

After further questions from Councilmember Travis Wittman, Ketcham said investors do receive an average of a 5 percent return on their investment.

"It's a national program through the Department of Treasury," Ketcham said. "The way it's viewed is that it's incentivising investment from private companies to develop affordable housing."

Saldana questioned whether the charity would compete with other subsidized housing in the city, asking whether enough people are present in the city to fill the complex.

"We have looked at the market," Ketcham said. "We find there is a real need ... For us, across our portfolio, we maintain about a 2 percent vacancy rate, which a 1 percent vacancy rate is normally considered just a turnover rate."

Ketcham said the best case scenario is to start building the housing in late 2012.