Columbia Housing Authority Kinney Point project nearly complete, as housing waitlist hits 800 households
Erika McGuire
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Columbia Housing Authority’s Kinney Point project, which will provide low-income housing, is nearing completion as about 800 households remain on the agency’s waitlist, according to CHA.
Ten of the 34 units being built are already completed and occupied, while the remaining units are expected to be filled by the end of November, according to Columbia Housing Authority CEO Randy Cole.
The number of those on the waitlist can be deceiving, Cole said, because the Section 8 waitlist has been closed for nearly six months, so CHA has not been accepting new applications. When all of the waitlist are opens, there are about 1,200-1,4000 households or close to 3,000 people, he said. Cole said about 80% of people on the waitlist are considered homeless.
For the time being, Cole said CHA has been fully utilizing all of its voucher resources and has been connecting people to landlords and the landlords have been helpful in participating.
Cole said CHA stops taking applications when the wait is close to two years. The waitlist likely won’t reopen until mid to late next year, with the elderly and disabled moving up the waitlist more quickly with a wait of six months or less.
“Right now we have about 750 units, but Kinney Point will add 34 more units, and then our new Park Avenue project, we’re going to add nine units, so we’ll have 43 more,” Cole said. “We’ll be approaching getting close to 800, by the time we’re done with all of our redevelopment projects in 2027,”
The Kinney Point Project is located on Garth and Sexton Road in central Columbia, costing a total of $13 million.
“We got $2 million from the city and home, ARPA funds and then we also got about $1.3 million from the Veterans United Foundation,” Cole said. “Then we got about $5 million in tax credits from this, state and then an additional $3 million in funds for the Missouri Department of Economic Development.”
CHA broke ground on the project last summer, which will also include a resource center for residents on site. The center will have social service staff on site to help connect residents to basic needs to programing and employment or referral to other provides. It will also offer space for nonprofits. There will be units serving between one-and-four bedrooms.
The monthly rent for the Kinney Point units depends on the number of bedrooms in each unit.
“It varies from around $700-to-$1,200,” Cole said. “But also each of the units has a voucher tied to it. so how much people pay is dependent upon their income, so if someone is elderly and disabled and has zero income they may pay zero in rent. If they’ve got gainful employment and they’re working, they’ll pay the max rent and they’ll pay the rent.”
CHA has other projects in the works including, Providence Walkway and Blind Baron and will offer 50 units. Those projects are expected to break ground next year and will be completely sometime in 2027.
Work to upgrade the Park Avenue Apartments has begun, with the first phase of the project expected to be completed early next year. The second phase is scheduled for completion in 2027.