Poplar Grove
An earnest effort to put up Christmas lights shined a light on a Lewisport apartment complex that, despite being one of the largest complexes in the county, most don’t know a whole lot about.
Poplar Grove Apartments, situated along 4th Street in Lewisport, is a Section 8 housing complex offering equal housing opportunities for all low-income renters, but it’s fit in with the surrounding area since 1980 by keeping the grounds and buildings well maintained.
For Christmas, the maintenance men strung tasteful lights along the sign at the front entrance and on the office building, which brought new attention to the neatly kept complex on the main road through Lewisport.
Tommy Thompson, an Owensboro developer who built the apartments and still owns them to this day, first built the $2 million complex to bring affordable housing to low-income renters, who he said at the time had been priced out of the housing market.
Today the complex has 76 units and is entirely Section 8 housing.
“The reason that we are considered income based, what Section 8 is, we cater to individuals and families that their income falls below the 50 percent poverty line of the area,” said Jessica Burnett, the manager of the complex. “So we help people who can’t afford generally normal rent.”
To get an apartment there an applicant must have an income of 50 percent or less of the average income in the area, which in this case is based on Daviess County and Owensboro numbers.
Poplar Grove has a standard market rate for each of their one, two or three bedroom apartments, and then based on the applicant’s income they apply government subsidies to reach the final rent total.
“…Based on that number we charge people about 30 percent of their annual income,” Burnett said. That help can mean that for those with low enough incomes, the rent is zero. “We call them zero renters,” she said. “They are individuals whose annual household income means that 30 percent of their income is less than our minimum, so we charge them no rent.”
Conversely, for someone who live in the apartments and suddenly get a much higher paying job, the rent will rise but only to the market level.
“We will never charge above market rent,” she said.
The apartments will simply charge the full market rate and remove any government subsidies.
But there are income restrictions to live in the apartments, so someone like that would be moved out when the lease is up, to free up a spot for a new low-income renter.
“When people’s income change we re-certify and their rent changes accordingly,” she said. “Part of their lease agreement is that they will report any significant change in income or household composition or anything like that.”
Despite being low-income housing, the complex keeps the grounds clean and landscaped, and even decorated for the big holidays.
“We’re constantly trying to find ways to improve our curbside appeal,” she said. “We do also make a pretty hefty effort to keep the grounds clear, to decorate, to make sure that the landscaping looks nice… (to) make sure that it’s a pleasant place to live for the people who live here and a pleasant place to look at for the people who live around us.”
By Dave Taylor
dave.hancockclarion
@gmail.com
