90 residents at an affordable NKY housing complex have a month left to find a new home

By Lacey Roberts

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    NEWPORT, Kentucky (WLWT) — Finding a place on a deadline. In Newport, 90 residents of an affordable housing complex have a month left to find a new home.

Back in July, 220 residents of the Victoria Square Apartments were told to pack up and move out. The key word in all of this is time. The company that owns Victoria Square Apartments extended their original deadline to Jan. 31, 2023, but some residents say that’s not enough time.

“That’s just it; we can’t find a place,” Bernetta Hall said.

She is just one of the 90 remaining residents yet to find a home.

“I’m still in shock, I am. I really feel for the elders here,” Hall said.

Rose has lived here for 3o years. Unable to speak as movers took away what was left of her home. Back in July, residents received a letter telling them their affordable housing rent prices would no longer cut it for a new development.

“We are going to be screwed in other areas of our lives because we have to take money that we’ve done other things with to put with what we have to pay now for rent,” Michele Greene said. The places she’s looked at are all double the rent price she’s paying now.

The Newport Housing Authority is just one of the 12 agencies stepping up to help these families.

“We have someone from Victoria Square Apartments in our office it seems like every day,” Tom Guidugli, with the Newport Housing Authority, said.

Meetings held every two weeks help assess the remaining residents’ needs. Organizations say it’s been a slow process because the housing market is very tight.

“We think about families and we think about those making $15 an hour, that’s about $31,000 a year, so 30%, which is what’s recommended is about $780 a month, those type of units are very hard to find,” Melissa Hall-Sommer, Vice President of the Brighton Center, said.

Stating the region needs to address the lack of housing that’s affordable and accessible.

“We think we have something, and we find out today so it’s kind of last-minute, and it is above our budget, but we can’t be homeless,” Greene said, explaining she’ll do what she has to in order to support her family.

Reaching out to Victoria Square Apartments, WLWT asked if any resident was unable to find a place by Jan. 31, what happens next? They replied, “to our knowledge, all former residents have in fact found housing. We will continue that commitment. If there are residents that haven’t found housing by January 31st, we are flexible about extending their move-out date and will continue to work with our community partners to assist them.”

Since this process began, Victoria Square Apartments has given more than $100,000 to residents to aid in moving expenses.

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