What’s the future of Hilton Head’s ‘old and tired’ public housing? What we know
A long-neglected public housing complex on Hilton Head Island is finally getting the attention from elected officials that its tenants say it desperately needs.
Tension was palpable Monday as members of Town of Hilton Head Island’s Intergovernmental Committee, which includes three town council members, peppered Beaufort Housing Authority director Angela Childers with questions about living conditions at Sandalwood Terrace.
Public officials have taken notice of the north end public housing complex in the past two weeks, since The Island Packet reported the hazardous living conditions there and tenants’ unsuccessful efforts to navigate the extensive web of bureaucracy as they try to get problems fixed.
Community members, council members and tenants at the meeting called out gross living conditions at the Beaufort Housing Authority-run complex they had witnessed or heard about.
All expressed frustration with the way Sandalwood has deteriorated and the apparent lack of recourse for tenants with grievances against the housing authority.
“We’ve talked about mold issues, we’ve talked about water intrusion issues, and I can say with certainty from my own eyes that there are issues where there is not a safe habitat, never mind for a healthy adult, but for children,” said Tamara Becker, Ward 4 Town Councilmember, who was sitting in on the Intergovernmental Committee but doesn’t serve on it.
Luana Graves Sellars, a leader in the island’s Gullah community, said all residents of Hilton Head Island should be “ashamed” of the substandard living conditions that persist at Sandalwood Terrace.
“I have been to some of the apartments and have [seen] for myself water marks from leaks on the roofs and mold that has spread from the air vents,” Graves Sellars said. “It is my understanding Sandalwood residents live in fear of reporting conditions and the threat of eviction as a result. This should not be able to continue.”
Childers said the housing authority would be making all necessary repairs immediately, noting that it had faced difficulty in treating problems this year, including roach infestations, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She said several tenants and members of the staff had contracted COVID-19 over the course of the year, and that the maintenance staff needed another employee.
Additionally, Childers said, several tenants have recently refused the housing authority entry into their units to do repairs, though the housing authority plans to try again.
“We are going to make Sandalwood Terrace completely safe and sanitary for all of its tenants,” Childers said.
Yet with the complex approaching 40 years, and many of the tenants’ complaints dealing with structural issues such as leakage and old appliances, some council members wondered aloud if it wouldn’t be better to raze the complex and rebuild it on the same land.
“It seems to me that you’re dealing with an insurmountable problem here, dealing with a facility with a high degree of wear and tear and a facility that probably has exceeded its realistic lifespan,” committee chair Bill Harkins said, calling Sandalwood “old and tired.”
Childers said she was also considering the possibility, but because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has strict regulations for public housing, such a project could take years to complete. But she didn’t rule it out.
Committee member David Ames said he hoped that Town Council, town staff, the Beaufort Housing Authority and local nonprofits could collaborate to speed up the process of reconstructing housing for Sandalwood tenants and offering temporary housing for them during construction.
“We need to solve this problem,” Ames said in an interview after the meeting. “There may be an opportunity for a solution that we don’t see at the moment. I’m hopeful but upset by what we’ve seen.”
Ames suggested during the meeting that the housing authority and town should have more conversations like the one they had Monday to chart a path forward for Sandalwood Terrace.
“I’m just thinking that the endgame is to do more than to paint and patch,” he said.
