This is a reprinted article from the Ann Arbor Observer 2002 City Guide written about University Townhouses by Derek Green. (All photos were added and not part of the original article -- Photos by Mark J. Wanless)Friendly turf
Low-cost, high-contact housing at
University TownhousesThe phrase “federally assisted housing” can connote all sorts of bad things—dilapidated tenements, fenced-in concrete yards, scary thugs on street corners. A Visit to University Townhouses, one of Ann Arbor’s five federally financed cooperatives, changes that impression in a hurry.
“1 think of it as a little community within a community,” boasts the facility’s chief of maintenance, Mandel Armstrong. “The people who live here are like family to me and to each other.”
The complex, on Braeburn Circle off Ellsworth Road, is made up of 609 one-, two-, and three-bedroom units in over 100 townhouse-style buildings. Around 2,000 people live here. Each tree-lined street that meanders quietly over speed bumps and past friendly signs reminding association members of group meetings and upcoming special events.
Braeburn Circle is actually two circles, one looping off from the other to form a lopsided figure eight. The homes are clustered around a central common area that looks more like a vast backyard than a seventy-five-acre tract a stone’s throw from 1-94. There’s a tight-knit, small-town feel to the place. The waiting list to get a townhouse is at least a year long, and there’s rarely an unoccupied spot.
The apartments are tidy, well-maintained, and reasonably updated. Each unit has a basement, a screened front entrance, and a sliding back door overlooking the grassy common grounds.
Colleen Pfister has lived at the complex since 1993 with her husband and daughter and served a four-year term on the board of directors. “The people are friendly. The staff is excellent,” she says. “We think of each other not just as neighbors but also as friends.”
Like the four other co-ops in town, University Townhouses holds a mortgage guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development at an interest rate of 3 percent. The co-op functions as a nonprofit mortgage holding company and sells what are essentially shares of the mortgage to members, who “carry” the cost. Because of the bargain interest rate, the “carrying cost” (the rent) on each unit is remarkably low. Including a surcharge for upkeep and utilities, rates run from $396 per month for one-bedroom units to $447 for three bedrooms.
In return tenants get a sense of ownership and a vote on the operation of the community. Members sit on various association committees and elect a board of directors, which has the final say on all decisions. Five full-time staffers answer to the board. Prospective residents go through a lengthy application process and have to meet federal income requirements: an individual must earn between $15,000 and $43,650 a year, while families of six must make $17,000 to $72,300. All tenants have to cough up a onetime membership fee of $2,000.
Members don’t build equity no matter how long they stay, because of the federal loan guarantee and the association's nonprofit status. Though a handful of tenants have lived at University Townhouses for more than thirty years, the average stay is closer to five.
Renee Cieslak is managing agent of the complex. “A co-op is a community, not just a cheap place to rent,” she says. “The whole community pitches in to keep costs down. Evetyone pulls together to make the place beautiful and safe. People watch out for each other around here.
Cieslak has worked at University Townhouses since 1980. She exudes a sense of pride unusual among apartment complex employees. Maybe it’s because she, like Armstrong and other employees, lived there before she was hired as manager. (She moved out after getting married.) The HUD-insured mortgages held by University Townhouses and the other area co-ops are all maturing. Colonial Square’s mortgage will be paid up in 2005, while University Townhouses’ has until 2009. When the mortgage is discharged, HUD is no longer in the picture. So what happens to the co-op then?
“It’s entirely up to the membership,” says Cieslak. “We’ve already formed a committee. Their job is to look at every feasible option and present those options to the board of directors and the membership.”
According to Cieslak, the members can do anything from forming a land trust to converting to a standard condo community and offering units at market value. They could also choose to remain incorporated through one of the HUD remortgage programs.
“Once the mortgage is paid off, the sky’s the limit,” she says with a smile. “What they’ll actually decide to do—well, that’s something that’s anybody’s guess!” Maureen McCarthy, the single mother of a young daughter, says, “We feel safe and looked after, and like we’re part of a community. What more can you ask?” —Derek Green
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