Pleasant Village rents to increase by $100 a month

Housing Authority plans to hike rate by $100 a month

The Altoona Housing Authority plans to raise the rents for Pleasant Village by $100 a month at the beginning of next year.

Executive Director Brad Kanuch Thursday acknowledged that $100 is "a lot," but said the authority needs to make capital improvements to the unsubsidized, self-sustaining development, and the only way to pay for them -- or to pay back a loan for the work -- is to raise money through higher rents.

Authority management has received one rate-hike complaint since sharing the news with residents Sept. 1, with the complainant noting that there are shortcomings at the development, Kanuch said.

Correcting those shortcomings will depend on the additional revenue, Kanuch said.

The last time rent went up for Pleasant Villagers was in mid-2023, with the increase previous to that occurring 15 years earlier, according to authority officials.

The rent for a one-bedroom unit at Pleasant Village is slated to rise to $585; a two-bedroom unit will rise to $700; and a three-bedroom unit will rise to $810.

Projects that need to be completed include sidewalks and roofs, doors and windows and perhaps carpet and flooring, according to information provided at the meeting.

Authority Maintenance Supervisor Greg Stiteler will create a project priority list, according to officials.

Authority member Howard Ermin suggested a smaller hike -- with a plan to raise the necessary funds "incrementally."

He hasn't ruled it out, Kanuch said.

But even with a $100 hike at the beginning of 2027, it might be necessary to raise the rent yet again before long, and perhaps even to raise it yearly going forward, according to Kanuch.

The 126-unit Pleasant Village was built in 1951 and is the authority's first development.

It consists of 20 one-bedroom, 80 two-bedroom and 20 three-bedroom units, with six "modified" apartments, according to a resolution memo.

There are income requirements, but unlike those for public housing and Section 8, they are minimums.

The minimums are required to ensure that residents can pay their rents.

The authority arrived at those annual minimums by setting them at three times the annual rent, according to Kanuch.

That aligns with the general expectation by the Department of Housing and Urban Development that residents shouldn't need to pay more than about one-third (actually 30%) of their incomes on housing.

Currently, residents in a one-bedroom unit at Pleasant Village need to make at least $17,460 a year while residents in a two-bedroom unit need to make at least $21,600 a year and residents in a three-bedroom unit need to make at least $25,560 a year.

The intention is to keep the charges under area fair market rents, so they're affordable for low- to middle income families, according to Kanuch.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development generally sets fair market rent "at the 40th percentile of gross rents for standard-quality rental housing in a specific market," according to an online source.

The fair market rents in this area are $948 for a one-bedroom unit, $1,062 for a two-bedroom unit and $1,337 for a three-bedroom unit.

The proposed new rents are $363, $362 and $527 less than the fair market rents, respectively.

There's a waiting list of Pleasant Village applicants, according to Kanuch.

Before applicants are accepted, they must undergo a criminal background and credit check.

There are preference points involved in acceptance.

"I don't like raising people's rents," Kanuch said. "But we have to have the income to do these big projects."

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.