MUNCIE, IND. (NewsLink)—Across four properties in Muncie, the Muncie Housing Authority
is providing a resource to their participants, a place to live. However, for many of them, they
never have known the feeling of being able to own their home. That is something that the MHA
is hoping to change by transitioning Autumn Hills to a voucher system for moving in.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development provides the funding for this program.
According to HUD, by joining this program it will allow for the MHA to free up funds to do
renovations on older buildings, if needed, without having to worry about the budget that
Congress may pass. The voucher program they are working towards will fall under HUD Section
Eight.
MHA Participant, Christie Davis, said that she joined the Section Eight program because it will
allow for her to give her family something that she never was able to get, a home.
“Give [my kids] something that they’ve never had,” Davis said. “So, they won’t have to raise
their children in public housing.”
Despite her goal, Davis said to NewsLink Indiana that she doesn’t know where she would be
right now without the MHA.
“…Because I wouldn’t have had anywhere to raise my kids,” Davis said. “Ain’t no telling where
me and my kids would be.”
Davis is a single mother who is raising two daughters. One of which that is wheel-chair bound
with cerebral palsy. With her unique situation, Davis counted on the housing authority to find a
place to live. That is something that the Public Housing Program Director, Curtisa Brown, said is
always important to remember.
“You know, I’ve always said that whoever walks through that door, you just don’t know where
they are in life,” Brown said. “I might be that last hope, you know, of inspiration or just guiding
them through my words.”
Brown told NewsLink Indiana that the housing authority is there to provide whatever support is
needed for their participants. One of the main ways they provide that support is by basing a
participant’s rent on their income. One only pays what they’re able to afford to pay to the
housing authority.
Brown said that she appreciates being able to take the load off of someone’s back by just being
there for whatever may be needed.
The services being provided is what makes Muncie Housing Authority CEO, Joe Anderson,
proud. Anderson said that they have many residents who are looking to have their own home.
“A lot of the families that, you know, are in our voucher program…a good percentage of them,
you know, work,” said Anderson. “People want to try to transition to have that independence.”
That independence is why the housing authority opened Autumn Hills because many of their
participants were asking for one-bedroom homes. Those one-bedroom homes are something the
housing authority lost, Anderson told NewsLink Indiana, when the organization was
restructuring.
The program will allow for residents to be able to save funds for a future down payment on their
own home.
Anderson said that it’s the housing authority’s responsibility to be willing to help their
participants with whatever is needed.
“Yes, we have to do right by the people that we serve,” Anderson said. “For me, it’s about
having an open-door policy. You can always come in and chat.”
That open-door policy is something that Brown said is a reason why she is trying to get the MHA
above the stigma that public housing faces on a daily basis.
“I really put my heart and soul into this job,” Brown said. “I have a dedication to this housing
authority and I really want to see this agency rise above the stigma of public housing.”
The other ways that Brown does this is by making sure that the housing authority has well
maintained homes for their participants. Brown wants people to feel comfortable coming to join
the program.
It’s a program that Davis says is a place for anyone to go because wherever they’re in life, it’s
not permeant.
“Just have hope and always work for it,” Davis said. “Don’t think where you are is where you’re
going to stay.”
The program will allow for the current residents of Autumn Hills to stay at the rent they’re
currently at and they shouldn’t see any increases, according to HUD and the MHA.
For anyone who is a concerned participant or if you’re living in Muncie, who needs help to find
housing, the Muncie Housing Authority is here for you. One can reach them at (765)-288-9242,
or by visiting their website here. Their offices are located at: 409 East 1 st St.
