Will new Columbia apartments house homeless vets? Developers say no, but residents are uneasy
New apartments proposed for the North Main Street corridor have caused tension in the nearby Cottontown neighborhood, with residents concerned the apartments could house homeless veterans.
The Woodley apartments, a 102-unit complex planned at the corner of Main and Scott streets, are being pitched as market-rate or luxury units, with an 1,800 square-foot retail space for an office or storefront connected to the project.
But at one point, developers considered building a community for low-income veterans, and residents say they are confused about what the final use for the apartments will be.
“These folks don’t need homeless people living in their neighborhood,” state Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D-Richland, told members of Columbia’s Design/Development Review Commission Thursday. “My office is up two blocks from here. I don’t need more homeless people defecating in my parking lot every morning, which is what is happening right now.”
He said he would call U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, as well as speak with the federal agencies that provide housing vouchers to veterans. He said if the project is for homeless veterans, it should not be located in a residential neighborhood.
Speaking for the company developing the project, Ghostridder OZ Fund LLC, Lauren Taylor last week told planning officials the project is now only apartments with no support services planned.
“This is a multi-family apartment building, nothing else,” Taylor said at the March 21 DDRC meeting. “Not a homeless shelter, not a health care facility, not a soup kitchen, not a halfway home. The designs presented today clearly reflect that.”
But residents say developers haven’t been clear about the plans. Denise Wellman, president of the Cottontown neighborhood association, submitted a letter to the city from the neighborhood opposing the project, saying that the plans the developers have shared with the planning commission are not in line with what developers have told the community about the apartments.
At one point, The Woodley was expected to accept special housing vouchers given to low-income veterans, residents were told.
Taylor is also CEO of the affordable housing development company Haven Homes Foundation, and on an archived page of the foundation’s website, The Woodley is also listed as being “a community for veterans,” utilizing HUD-VASH vouchers, which are housing vouchers meant for low-income veterans.
But developers said support services for veterans are no longer part of the plans for the project and it is now being planned as standard market-rate apartments.
Columbia planning commissioners said if the developers were to change the use of the facility, it would require another round of approvals from city officials.
The city’s planning commission approved the project as standard apartments earlier this month, and the DDRC approved the plans last week.
