NEW MILFORD — A senior affordable housing complex in town may get federal funding for extensive roof repair.
At a recent Town Council meeting, $90,000 was unanimously approved from the town’s American Rescue Plan funding for repairs to the Butter Brook Hill Apartments’ roofs. The finance board, followed by voters, must give final approval.
Butter Brook is a 102-unit nonprofit senior housing community at 105 Butter Brook Hill Road that opened in 1973. Occupancy is restricted to households where the head or co-head is age 62 or older or where a member has a qualifying disability. There are 108 residents in the complex and there is a waiting list.
At the meeting, Theresa Schremmer, Butter Brook’s property manager, said she’s requesting the funds because there’s a “great need” to repair the roofs of the complex.
“The building is extremely old and it has been deteriorating now for several years,” Schremmer said. “We’re concerned that with fall and winter approaching, that we’ll have bigger troubles, so we’re inquiring about these funds very seriously.”
The development has installed tarps on several parts of its roofs in order to prevent further water damage, while other parts have been temporary patched.
Funding
Butter Brook is funded through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 236 Preservation Program, whose goal is to preserve the affordability of rental housing units.
However, there is not a full project based subsidy, so only a portion of residents’ rent is subsidized by the government.
“We are very limited in the rent increases that we do because the majority of our population is very income restricted and any rent increases come directly out of our residents’ pockets,” said Tammy Lautz, director of management for Elderly Housing Management, which manages the development. “We are very conscious of the fact that when we do rent increases, that has a very direct impact on a lot of our seniors.”
The complex has been getting several estimates, which range from $54,000 to $130,000, to repair specific roof areas.
Lautz said Butter Book has a reserve that is funded year over year, as part of its budget. That fund has about $208,000.
“We have drawn down on it significantly to do repairs and make accessibility upgrades to bathrooms and remediate some areas where we’ve had asbestos because of the age of the building, and also some mold issues,” said Lautz, who also represents the Samaritan Corporation, which makes up New Milford Interfaith Housing, which owns Butter Brook.
She added the development is confident the $90,000 “should more than meet the need (for the repairs), and if it does not, we can dip into those reserves… It will help greatly reduce the amount that we would have to take from that.”
In March, Butter Brook received $1.7 million in upgrades as a result of a federal spending bill President Joe Biden signed into law. The upgrades will make the development compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act standards.
The request will go to the town’s Board of Finance for approval, and then to a vote from residents. If approved, the town would have about $145,000 remaining of its American Rescue Plan funds. A full list of how the town has distributed the money can be found by visiting newmilford.org and clicking the Community tab, under American Relief Funds.
sandra.fox@hearstmediatct.com 203-948-9802