The Boscobel Housing Authority (BHA) got some welcome news this summer.

Every three years, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development conducts inspections and issues scores that assess the physical, financial, and managerial condition of more than 2,700 housing authorities across the states. 

This year, Boscobel scored 97 out of 100 possible points—putting it in the top ten percent of agencies nationally and setting a new record for the local authority. The high score also bested all of Boscobel’s neighboring municipalities in Grant County.

That news called for some high fives between Kelly Trumm, Executive Director, and Tom Waltz, Maintenance Director. 

“We’ve never had a score this high,” Trumm said. “I’m very, very proud of my staff and I just think it’s a wonderful thing. 

The achievement has been 10 years in the making. Trumm and Waltz started in their positions a decade ago, about a week apart, and they faced a steep learning curve.

“I got handed a set of 25 keys and I didn’t have a clue where they went,” Waltz recalled recently. As for Trumm, when she began her tenure two weeks before Boscobel’s 2013 flood, she had no idea where the BHA properties were located—or even how many there were. 

Putting out fires

Once Trumm and Waltz figured out where the properties were, they were unimpressed with what they found. 

“They were in shambles,” Waltz recalls. “They were in very run-down condition.”

One clue that they faced serious problems? When the fire department had to rescue a tenant from carbon monoxide poisoning due to an outdated furnace. 

“It was health and safety risks,” he explained. “It was putting out fires. We had to identify what was a priority.” 

Part of that work involved winning over the tenants.

The team inherited a backlog of complaints, especially at the Briarwood apartment building. 

“Tenants were just very angry. It took us a while to get people to accept the fact that new people are coming in and we’re going to do what’s right. It took us probably a good year or more just to gain the trust of the people,” Waltz said.

Income-based

One misconception that Trumm would like to dispel is that the BHA manages “low-income” housing. She makes the distinction that, rather, rents are “income based.”

“If you look at our income guidelines, they are very high,” she said. For HUD housing, a person of one can earn up to $47,600, and a family of four up to $68,000. For USDA housing, the limits are even higher.

This means, according to Trumm, that the BHA has an important role to play in workplace housing—which is notoriously hard to find since the collapse of the housing market in 2008.   

“You could be looking at one or two adults starting out as teachers in the schools, they could potentially qualify for this housing,” Trumm said. 

Next up

Trumm points to a pair of remodeled duplexes on Center Street as one of her signature accomplishments thus far as director.

“They were in a shambles when we purchased them, and we’ve completely remodeled all four two-bedroom units. Brand-new furnaces, water heaters, central air. I just enjoy looking at those buildings—they were so rundown—and thinking, oh my that’s an improvement. I really enjoyed that project, and I still have 20 or 25 years left to work,” she said.

To that end, she’s building up the housing authority savings account in order to reinvest in another renovation project to add to the existing stock of nearly 70 housing units, including three apartment buildings and several duplex and single-family homes in the authority’s portfolio.

The City of Boscobel recently transferred ownership of 10 undeveloped lots in the Pine Shore development to the HRA. Trumm will be overseeing the sale of those lots to developers willing to create housing in the neighborhood. Any funds from that sale will be added to the reinvestment fund. 

Waltz, who is approaching retirement age, sees the improvements to city housing stock as part of a larger project to make a difference in the lives of everyday Boscobel residents. Some of his improvements—like creating space for a community garden or running green space down to the river—wasn’t so much a requirement as an enhancement.

“That’s what I feel my job as a maintenance director is: To look at what I can do to make life better for the people who are living there. What can I do that’s going to help the tenants,” he said.