Mike Wolanin | The Republic An exterior view of the Villas Apartments in Columbus, Ind., Monday, April 29, 2024.
BHI Senior Living has announced plans to close an affordable housing complex for seniors in Columbus next year.
The Villas apartments, 4101 Waycross Drive, will be closed shortly after April 2025, when BHI Senior Living’s 40-year contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that subsidizes rent for residents of the 99-unit complex is set to expire, the company said Monday.
The decision reflects BHI Senior Living’s strategy to shift away from multi-family housing that does not include a health care component and focus on providing care to older adults through its continuing care retirement communities, said company spokeswoman Megan Ulrich.
The closure of The Villas will not impact Four Seasons Retirement Community, which also is owned by BHI Senior Living, Ulrich said.
Company officials said they have not decided what they will do with the building after April 2025. The company initially sent out a Q&A document to media that said they planned to demolish the complex but later clarified that “nothing has been decided about the space.”
“This isn’t a decision that we came to lightly,” Ulrich said. “Our goal is to help our residents every step of the way and see how we can help them find their next accommodation. By no means are we saying that you have to be out by a certain time. We just anticipate by the end of April that it will no longer be a housing facility. Prior to that, we will continue to operate as normal.”
The Villas currently houses 96 seniors and is a HUD-subsidized apartment community for people ages 62 years and up, as well as for those needing a specially-designed unit for mobility.
The complex is part of the federal Section 202 program, which seeks to expand the supply of affordable housing with supportive services for the elderly, according to HUD. Residents qualifying for rental assistance pay no more than 30% of their monthly adjusted income for rent.
The city of Columbus, for its part, has offered to help the tenants “in any way we can” to find a new place to live and is looking at what resources may be available through HUD and elsewhere, said Eric Frey, the city’s executive director of administration.
“Right now, our concern is for those tenants and making sure that they have a place that they can find to reside that’s affordable,” Frey said. “We’ve offered to help in any way we can with the property manager. …They’ve got some strategies that they’re working on with the tenants. …It’s so in the early stages (that) we don’t really have a definite step-by-step strategy, but we’re hoping and willing to work in any way we can to help these individuals find a place.”
