Residents of Dunbar Drive will have at least 90 days to relocate to either another Troy Housing Authority property or to another residence via a voucher system.

Debbie Rogers, executive director of the Troy Housing Authority, told residents at a November 2018 meeting about the housing authority’s plan to demolish and dispose of the Dunbar site.

Rogers explained then that the housing authority was beginning the paperwork process to apply for a demolition and disposal of the Dunbar site while also converting the rest of the housing authority from public housing to Rental Assistance Demonstration housing.

Rogers declined to comment for this story, and limited information has been released regarding why the housing authority has chosen to dispose of the Dunbar Drive property.

However, acceptable reasons for a public housing authority (PHA) to demolish and dispose of a site are listed in federal regulations of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

One of three reasons acceptable to demolish a property is due to physical issues with the buildings themselves.

“PHAs must demonstrate substantial physical issues of the buildings/units (i.e., critical structural issues, deficiencies in major systems, deterioration due to prolonged deferred maintenance) that cannot be corrected in a cost-effective manner,” according to HUD documents.

The other two acceptable reasons for the demolition of a site are location and “other factors impacting the marketability, usefulness, or management of the units that seriously impede operations for residential use.”

Rogers said at the residents meeting that all residents would be talked to individually as well as in more group settings to ensure each resident knows their options and has plenty of time to decide what they will do.

The policy gives a minimum of 90 days notice to residents before a site is disposed and requires that “each family displaced by such action will be provided comparable housing, which may include housing with reasonable accommodations for disability” and that the PHA “must offer each family displaced by demolition or disposition comparable housing that meets housing quality standards (HQS) and is located in an area that is generally not less desirable than the location of the displaced persons. The housing must be offered on a nondiscriminatory basis, without regard to race, color, religion, creed, national origin, handicap, age, familial status, or gender, in compliance with applicable Federal and state laws.”

Rogers told residents at the meeting that all people would have to be moved out before disposition could begin.

The 90-day period would not being until the disposition date is set. The demolition and disposition must still first be approved by HUD before a date is set to demolish the property.

The site is one of at least two sites still being considered by the Pike County Commission for the location of a new county jail.