The soon-to-be improved Section 8 housing around Columbus will receive a new look.

Beginning in February, the subsidized housing, which is located in seven city neighborhoods, will experience extensive interior and exterior renovations because of several inefficiencies.

“(The Section 8 housing) have no showers or air conditioning. The windows and doors are pretty well shot, and kitchens and bathrooms are in need of renovation,” said Hal Keller, president of Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing, the non-profit owner of the housing portfolio. “The mechanical systems needed updated. The units, as a whole, are in need of substantial rehab.

“Most of the units were developed over a long period of time, but mainly during the turn of the century and early 1920s,” he said.

The new management company, Community Properties of Ohio Management Services, also is working to improve the several social and community aspects of the housings’ neighborhoods.

CPOMS is concerned with improving the public safety of the housing, which is named Community Properties. The management will implement more effective tenant screening, which was not successfully done by the previous management company and resulted in a 50 percent annual turnover rate, said Steve Sterrett, director of community relations at Campus Partners.

Fences will be constructed between yards and allies, and the management will enforce stricter compliance with leases.

Five different supportive services coordinators will help residents connect with existing social services and community resources in the area.

“For an example, if management notices that the tenants are having problems, like domestic violence, the supportive services coordinators will step in and recommend a specific local service that will meet their needs,” Sterrett said.

The Godman Guild, a supportive service agency in Weinland Park of the University District, will work with Community Properties’ partners and community to help solve problems, find adults employment and keep children in schools, said Randy Morrison, executive director of the Godman Guild. He said the agency hopes to upgrade the community and provide resources and opportunities to those who live within the 600-650 housing units in the area.

“For 105 years, (the Godman Guild) has been providing services to the neighborhood,” Morrison said. “We expect to be very involved during the transition period. People will be moving in and out during the renovations, and this will be a big change for a lot of families. We plan to give support during this process.”

Although it is very early in exploration, Sterrett said OCCH and CPOMS are hoping to collaborate with Ohio State to develop two or three learning centers on campus specifically for residents of Community Properties. He said the centers would exist on different sides of the university’s campus and would provide computers and software to link residents to learning, various opportunities and their school curriculum.

Because a large percentage of heads of households within the portfolio are single mothers between the ages of 18 and 24, education is important to developing and strengthening the communities, he said.

CPOMS has moved tenants to vacant units and has tried to relocate them within the same school district to prevent students from changing schools. Sterrett said there is no expense with the move, and movers will be provided.

Keller said OCCH and CPOMS are excited about the renovations and have received support from the community.

“We work extensively with the residents and had a variety of residence meetings. Tenants are extremely supportive because they now have a nicer place to live. And the community has been very supportive too,” he said. “We had meetings with neighborhood groups and met with architects and had nothing but positive responses.”

Sterrett said the Section 8 housing has been perceived as last-resort housing, but he hopes that with the extensive improvements, Community Properties will become housing of choice, and there will be less turnover.

Community Properties is the largest scattered-site, project-based Section 8 portfolio in the United States.

It encompasses more than 1,335 units in approximately 249 buildings in Weinland Park, Harrison West, the near East Side, South Side, Franklinton, South Linden and Italian Village, Sterrett said.

The renovations will be done in three phases over three years. Keller said the first transaction includes 331 units, the second in May with an additional 213 units and the final phase in late 2004 with the remaining 600 units.