Low-income Schaumburg residents can stay at Tree House
A combination of relief and lingering financial concerns accompanied the announcement Thursday that a new arrangement would allow low-income residents of the Tree House Luxury Apartments in Schaumburg to continue using vouchers to live there.
Property managers and the Housing Authority of Cook County worked together on the plan, which will allow the rent for the renovated apartments to not exceed the capacity of the vouchers.
About 50 residents, running a gamut of ages and levels of physical ability, attended an explanatory meeting about the program in the complex’s club house Thursday morning.
“The goal here, for both myself and the housing authority, is to make sure you have a roof over your head,” Tree House Manager Kristen McAtee told them.
It was previously believed that because of planned apartment renovations, residents using vouchers to live at the complex would have to find new homes once their current leases expired. Although the Tree House offered the residents a chance to move into already renovated units, the rents would have been too high for the vouchers to cover.
Their fortunes changed when the Tree House agreed to become eligible for a program allowing residents to receive an allowance for the payment of their gas and water bills.
Residents will now be individually billed for water and gas, and receive an allowance each month based on an annual, countywide average cost.
The gas allowance will be based on the size of the apartment, and the water allowance on the number of people living there. Some months the allowances may be above the actual costs and some months below, said Sheryl Seiling, director of rent assistance for the housing authority.
Under the basic voucher system, residents pay 30 percent of their adjusted gross income toward rent while the vouchers pay the rest. With the utility allowance, residents will still pay 30 percent of their income for both rent and utilities.
Residents voiced appreciation for the effort to keep at the Tree House, but some still wondered how they’d find the money for moving costs and larger security deposits for the new units. One said the plan would cost her about $1,000, money she’s not sure she has.
Others were more optimistic.
“I’m confused as to how I’m going to make this work, but I’m encouraged that they came together to do this,” Paula Pedersen said. “I have my faith in God. That’s where I’m placing a lot of this.”
Resident Karin Humphrey said everyone living on a voucher like herself and her 11-year-old daughter ought to be grateful they live in a country that looks after them to such an extent.
“I have nothing to say but good things,” Humphrey said. “It was heartbreaking to me to find out I had to leave. To find out I have a second chance, I have to work with that. You can’t just sit back and say, ’Give me, give me.’ You’ve got to work for it too.”