Desperate for an affordable apartment? Don’t even think about filling out an application for a public housing unit in Harrison because the Harrison Housing Authority won’t accept it.
Effective this past July 9, the HHA Board of Commissioners “has closed its waiting list to all new applicants,” according to a public notice posted at the HHA administrative offices.
“Because the demand for housing at the Harrison Housing Authority has been so great, the number of applicants currently on the waiting list is so high, and the Housing Authority does not anticipate that it would be able to house new applicants within a one-year period, the Housing Authority will temporarily cease taking new applications.
“All applicants who are currently on the Housing Authority’s waiting list will retain their place on the waiting list, pending eligibility.”
HHA Executive Director Ray Lucas said the policy would be reviewed within the next 12 to 24 months to see if any significant openings develop.
“The first thing I did when I got here [he was appointed as HHA chief administrator in March] was to vet the [waiting] list,” Lucas said, to evaluate the fluidity of available apartments.
When he opted to put the freeze into effect last month, the HHA had 428 people on the list — with only 268 apartments available to HHA occupants between its two sites, Lucas said.
Of that total, 232 were waiting for one-bedroom apartments, 133 wanted 2-bedroom units and 63 had applied for 3-bedrooms, the director said.
But that’s just an estimate, Lucas said.
There are likely a bunch more uncounted, he said, based on a number of applications whose contents were found by HHA staff to be incomplete and for which staff is continuing to await additional documents and/or information.
Those still in the ether could account for between 40 and 50 additional applicants who would be allowed on the waiting list, Lucas said.
In recent years, the HHA has periodically instituted such freezes when it felt it was so inundated with requests for apartments that, given its extremely high occupancy rate at its Harrison Gardens and Kingsland Court sites, it just didn’t make sense to take on even more applicants, Lucas said.
Some long-term applicants have proved to be very patient.
One person has been waiting for a one-bedroom unit for the past 12 years; another individual is still hoping to land a two-bedroom flat, even after eight years since their name was placed in the ledger; and seven years ago, a third party put in a request for a three-bedroom apartment, according to HHA records.
Just how tight is the turnover rate among HHA apartments?
A check of the records offered these results:
- For 2016 the HHA recorded seven turnovers of one-bedroom apartments; six turnovers of two-bedroom units; and two turnovers of three-bedroom flats.
- For 2017 the HHA logged these turnovers: four for one-bedrooms; five for two-bedrooms; and four for three-bedrooms.
- For 2018 so far: one turnover for one-bedrooms; none for two-bedrooms; and three for three-bedrooms.
Sometimes, Lucas said, request variables change if a family member in, say, a two- or three-bedroom unit, dies so the occupant(s) need(s) a smaller-sized unit.
Harrison is by no means exceptional when it comes to freezing a waiting list, Lucas said. “The Newark Housing Authority list has been closed for 10 years with over 10,000 names on it.”
And Harrison – even though it’s a town of just one square mile – get people from as far as South Carolina who are searching for a place to live, Lucas said.
Still, a federally defined point system allows local PHAs to prioritize local residents over out-of-towners on waiting lists … assuming, of course, there’s an apartment available for them.
