New London — The Housing Authority is poised to take action next week on a move that quickly would lead to the relocation of the more than 380 residents from the troubled high-rises at Thames River Apartments.

The Housing Authority’s board of commissioners met with representatives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Thursday for a briefing on a so-called disposition application — a means to label the 124 federally subsidized Crystal Avenue units as obsolete and setting into motion a process by which residents could obtain housing vouchers from HUD and move elsewhere. The entire process could take about six months.

The board will vote on the measure at its next meeting on Tuesday.

Board Chairwoman Betsy Gibson called it the “quickest and only route” to address the conditions at the aging high-rises, where tenants continually have complained about mouse and roach infestations, mold, lack of security and generally deteriorating conditions.

Mayor Michael Passero, who said the city is seeing an increasing liability at the housing complex, urged the board to take immediate action.

“The city’s at risk. We’ve got to start the process,” Passero said. “The situation has gotten so bad, there is a serious concern those buildings will become uninhabitable, and the burden of relocation would fall on the city. It’s become a crisis."

The Housing Authority, he said, does not have the financial resources to address current or future problems at the complex, such as the lack of a fully operational boiler to provide heat and hot water. The Housing Authority began leasing an exterior boiler last week at a cost of $15,000 a month.

An application for disposition, Passero said, requires a process that starts with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development but also involves a hearing with the state Department of Housing and involvement of the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority.

Jennifer Gottlieb, a representative from HUD’s Hartford field office, explained that, along with the application, the Housing Authority will be responsible for things such as an environmental assessment of the Crystal Avenue site and also for providing services and funding to the families to facilitate the moves.

Passero said his goal and the goal of the Housing Authority is to protect the tenants and, at the same time, the city’s interests. He expects the buildings ultimately will be demolished.

The new appointees on the board, most appointed over the last six months, have made a point of quickly addressing concerns at the Crystal Avenue high-rises in the wake of a recent HUD report that downgraded the Housing Authority’s status to “substandard,” based on a 2015 inspection of units in the two federally subsidized apartment complexes and an examination of the Housing Authority’s finances.

More recently, the Ledge Light Health District was called to inspect several units as residents complained of mold, mice and insect infestations and generally poor living conditions.

Ledge Light Health Director Stephen Mansfield said this week he was completing a comprehensive report on the results of inspections at six units last week. The report, with possible violations and orders for corrective action, will be submitted to the board.

“We know there are violations ... such as the presence of vermin,” Mansfield said. “There are measures that will need to be taken and (we will be) working with the Housing Authority to address them.”

Mansfield said the inspection did not turn up anything that would immediately endanger residents in the short term, but the health department will look to ensure that things like long-term integrated pest management practices are in place.

Housing Commissioner Jeanette Parker, a resident of the Thames River Apartments, said her home is spotless — no shoes allowed in the house, beds are made and dishes cleaned — yet she has seen both mice and roaches in her unit. Her main concern, however, has been advocating for all the children trying to gather donations to outfit a community room.

Even as the board ponders the future of residents, developers are moving forward through local land-use commissions in an attempt to build a new $40 million complex for all of the Crystal Avenue residents. The proposal was the Housing Authority’s resolution to a long-running class-action lawsuit filed against the agency by attorney Robert Reardon on behalf of the 124 families at Thames River Apartments.

The option of moving into the proposed housing development is potentially several years away, however, Passero said.

“That’s too far down the road. That’s a different situation. That housing is still arguably going to be necessary. It’s just not there and an option for us right now,” Passero said.

Reardon, who attended Thursday’s meeting, said the goal of the lawsuit was to provide clean, safe living conditions for the lower-income families in New London. He said something had to be done irrespective of a decision by the Planning and Zoning Commission, which is considering a zoning modification application to allow housing at the site of the former Edgerton School.

Even a move out of the high-rises is not going to solve overall problem of an insufficient number of lower-rent properties, he said.

g.smith@theday.com