Judge encouraged by update of Thames River progress
New London — A judge who in 2014 signed an agreement to end a class-action lawsuit and ensure new homes for the tenants at the troubled Thames River Apartments said he is so far satisfied with the recent progress the city and its housing authority have made in trying to provide new homes for families at the high-rises.
“The process languished for a while,” Judge David M. Sheridan said. “At present, I’m satisfied from everything I’ve heard that the process is on track. The momentum is still there.”
Sheridan joined a teleconference at the offices of The Reardon Law Firm on Wednesday for a status report from Mayor Michael Passero, Housing Authority Executive Director Roy Boling, Housing Authority board of commissioners Chairwoman Betsy Gibson and several attorneys. Robert Reardon, who has represented tenants pro bono for more than a decade, assembled the group after threatening to reopen the case because of what he said were further deteriorating conditions at the Crystal Avenue high-rises.
His original lawsuit focused on unsanitary and unsafe conditions there.
Reardon has continued to push for progress because the Housing Authority had failed to adhere to the timeline in the 2014 stipulated judgment ordering updated homes for tenants of the federally subsidized and outdated apartment complex.
The authority, beset by setbacks that included stalled plans for a replacement housing complex, decided to pursue mobile Section 8 vouchers and abandon the high-rises.
The Housing Authority found out on Wednesday that the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development is expected to approve the authority’s application for a disposition of the Thames River complex and issue the vouchers. Boling said he expects an approval letter by Monday.
On Oct. 12 there will be a meeting with Thames River tenants to discuss the voucher distribution process with HUD officials and representatives of the Glendower Group, the organization hired to handle the relocation process.
“To their credit, many of the residents have started looking themselves; they’re just waiting for the vouchers,” Gibson said.
Reardon said there remains anxiety among tenants about when they will be able to move and where they will end up. Those questions are not yet answered but the Housing Authority has set the end of the year as a target date.
Some still are nervous about spending a winter at the complex because of past problems with insufficient amounts of hot water when the heat is on.
It is already known that New London has an insufficient number of apartments to house the residents that want to stay — roughly 58 of the 117 remaining families, Boling said. Many of those who want to stay in New London have said they would be amenable to moving to a complex being developed at the former Edgerton School site.
Meanwhile, the Housing Authority board of commissioners is drafting a request for qualifications from private management companies to run the authority — a move that has angered authority employees and some tenants.
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