Another loss of affordable housing to students in Iowa City

IOWA CITY - Memories of being homeless are never far from Matthew Hubbard, who keeps many of his possessions in reusable grocery bags hanging by his door.

The 33-year-old soon will be packing up again because the Iowa City rooming house that's been home for two years is terminating his and other tenants' leases Feb. 28 to renovate and sell the building to a fraternity.

It's the most recent example of Iowa City landlords converting affordable housing into dwellings for University of Iowa students, who can pay higher rents.

'They've tried to help, but it's just so expensive in Iowa City, and there's nowhere else to go,” Hubbard said.

The Governor Group, which manages 332 Ellis Ave. for Ellis Ave. LLC, is returning tenants' security deposits plus $550 for relocation costs. The owners also are offering relocation assistance, which includes employees calling other complexes to find units with comparable rent.

'It's one of the more affordable places in town,” said Adam Brantman, co-owner of the four-level brick building built in 1925 as a fraternity house. When Ellis Ave. LLC bought the place in 2015, it was already serving as a rooming house for 20 to 25 people with poor credit, criminal histories or other barriers to renting traditional apartments.

'We worked with the Shelter House to fill some of the vacancies,” Brantman said.

But then it got too expensive to maintain the aging brick building on the combined rent of the tenants, most of whom pay $515 a month for a small private bedroom, shared bathrooms, kitchen and laundry, as well as utilities and cable TV. A March inspection showed broken windows, outdated smoke alarms and missing fire extinguishers.

'We had a fraternity contact us that they were interested in the property,” Brantman said.

Pi Kappa Phi, now renting a house at 202 Ellis Ave., wants to move up the street and plans to buy 332 Ellis Ave. once Brantman and his team complete $700,000 in renovations, according to records filed with the Iowa City Board of Adjustment.

The board in November approved a special exception for the building to serve as fraternity in an area zoned for Neighborhood Stabilization Residential. There will be a public hearing Tuesday on whether to allow Ellis Ave. LLC to take over the alley beside the building.

Crissy Canganelli, Shelter House executive director, understands why owners want to sell 332 Ellis Ave.

'The Governor Group have been glorified social workers,” making accommodations for tenants with rental obstacles, she said.

'That's what we're losing here, not just the single-room housing,” she said.

Hubbard, who suffers from depression, anxiety and an unspecified personality disorder, said he has struggled to find housing in the past because he was once evicted for not being able pay rent and because of a 2014 misdemeanor conviction. He's got a few leads on apartments he might be able to rent staring next month - if he can make the cut.

The sale of 332 Ellis Ave. further depletes Iowa City's limited stock of affordable housing, Canganelli said.

Hundreds of tenants in the Rose Oaks Apartments in southeast Iowa City were asked to move out last March so owners could demolish buildings and renovate others to create a complex being marketed to college students.

'Losing your housing is one of the most devastating events that can happen,” Canganelli said. 'It rips the ground from underneath you.”

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