Ralston Towers residents will finally move out of troubled building. Here are their options.

The cafeteria of the Ralston Towers was packed Tuesday afternoon as Housing Authority of Columbus representatives met with residents to discuss their impending move from the affordable housing complex.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development took steps in November to begin to terminate the contract that provides federal funding to the Ralston in the form of 269 housing vouchers. The action came after the Ralston failed two inspections in July and October of last year.

According to Joseph J. Phillips, senior communications officer with HUD, the contract was terminated on January 14.

The building, which is owned by New-Jersey based company PF Holdings, was under a Section 8 Project-Based Housing Assistance Payments Contract, where HUD issues vouchers to help make up the difference between the rent and what the 185 current residents can afford.

The subsidy was tied to the individual apartments, so if residents left, the voucher did not go with them.

Now, the Housing Authority has taken over the vouchers, and will be working the next three weeks to screen residents to determine their eligibility, according to Housing Authority CEO Len Williams.

Those vouchers will not be tied to any specific building and can be used on the private market to rent a house, mobile home or apartment, or for an appropriate Housing Authority property or Section 8 housing.

John Casteel, chief assisted housing director for the authority, said a HUD-contracted relocation team will have 60 days to help place the residents in a new home once the vouchers are issued.

“(The relocation team) are going to be scouring the market looking for suitable units,” Casteel told residents. “Because you’re being displaced involuntarily, you’ll automatically go to the top of all of the waiting lists. But it’s only going to be for units that you are eligible to fit in and that are vacant.”

Williams said the residents’ relocation expenses will be covered, and that HUD officials along with relocation team members will be at the Ralston February 12 and 13.

Local news media, including the Ledger-Enquirer, were present at the Ralston Tuesday. However, management representatives told reporters to vacate the premises shortly after the meeting got underway.

Belinda Pyles, a Ralston resident of three years, said that the meeting went well, and that residents who asked questions were able to get the answers they were looking for.

Pyles, who uses a wheelchair, said she feels like the Ralston is a convenient place to live considering her disability, but that she’s been told other places will be just as convenient.

“I’m going to be able to get me another place to live, but I seriously wish it didn’t have to happen,” Pyles said. “I’m handicapped, I’m in a wheelchair and I can get around easy on this. I can go pretty much anywhere downtown.”

Pyles saidthe reality of having to move didn’t sink in until recently, when Housing Authority officials started asking residents for paperwork, including identification cards, social security numbers and birth certificates, which are required for the screening process.

“It just kept on being told, every time we turned around, that they were going to close the Ralston, and it never happened,” she said. “But’s OK, I’ll find me another place.”

Residents in recent years have been subject to increasingly dire conditions, with one resident dying due to extreme heat, and other issues including malfunctioning elevators and, as found during inspections, rats, roaches and dangerous living conditions.

This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 3:26 PM.