The Troy Housing Authority has received federal approval to dispose of the Dunbar Drive property.

The Housing Authority alerted residents in November 2018 that they were seeking approval to dispose of and sell the property.

The property is one of two that the Pike County Commission has revealed it is considering for the site of a new Pike County Jail, the other being the county’s land at the Pike County Road Department.

The Housing Authority must give residents a minimum of 90 days to find a new residence and all residents must be settled in new homes, paying the same amount as they are currently, before any demolition and disposition can begin.

Rogers said at the November 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.”

Individuals in Dunbar would have the option to simply move into one of the other units of the housing authority or receive a tenant protection voucher to move to another property and continue to pay 30 percent of income as rent, with the housing authority subsidizing the rest of the rent as long as it is “reasonable.”

Rogers said there is no plan yet as to how it will be decided who gets vouchers first. One possibility is that the tenants who have lived in Dunbar the longest will get vouchers first. Councilman Robert Jones asked Rogers if seniors might be given the priority. Rogers said that perhaps the most fair system would be to hold a lottery for which tenants receive vouchers first.