Dosker Manor residents anxiously wait for the Louisville Metro Housing Authority to relocate them

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Dosker Manor residents are fed up with the crime and poor living conditions at the public housing complex near downtown Louisville.

Many residents have complained about mice, bugs, mold and crime, and Louisville Metro Housing Authority Executive Director Elizabeth Strojan said its current condition is the result of "decades of neglect."

The complex has had many problems for years, and WDRB reporting this year shed a light on deplorable conditions for residents, including a bed bug infestation and violent crime. Louisville Metro Council once called LMHA the city's worst slum lord. Numerous issues like unsafe and unsanitary living conditions and a lack of maintenance have plagued many of the city's housing complexes like Dosker Manor for years.

"I would like for them to rebuild everything over here and redo it," Antonette Hickman, who is a Dosker Manor resident, said Friday.

Hickman has been living at Dosker Manor for a year. She wants to move but said her options are limited.

"If I have to move anywhere, it's got to be all utilities included because I'm a fixed income," she said.

There are more than 650 units at this public housing complex. Most people say building A is in the worst condition.

"A is pretty messed up, a lot of shootings, a lot of killing," said Horace Brasher, another Dosker Manor resident. "But B is a different level."

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said Thursday that he supports tearing down the building and starting from scratch. He praised Strojan, saying she has done a great job of addressing the needs of its residents as well as their future needs.

"That's not super common," Strojan said. "Not every public housing authority has a great relationship with the city. ... It's not a city agency. It's separate. So that is definitely working in our favor that we have the mayor’s support."

Strojan told Metro Council members Wednesday that she believes starting fresh is best.

"It is not ideal to substantially rehabilitate," she said. "Our best option, we believe, is to demolish the existing buildings and rebuild replacement housing both on- and off-site."

The second Friday every month, LMHA hosts open office hours for residents, where they can share their concerns from 9-11 a.m. in-person, in Building A.

"People have been very grateful to have an opportunity to talk," Strojan said. "It seems like people are appreciative of being heard. People need to be heard. They've been through a lot so we're happy to listen."

Dosker Manor was originally designated as apartments for adult senior citizens. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the federal agency that funds LMHA, required the agency to accept residents with physical and mental disabilities. Then, the city placed many unhoused individuals in the units.

Now, providing service for Dosker Manor's residents has put a strain on the LMHA's budget.

"All of those populations have serious, distinct needs and, frankly, LMHA has not done a good job of getting those met," said Strojan, adding that the agency needs more case workers.

Officials plan to help current residents find a new place to live, and re-location meetings will begin at the end of this month.

"We are in the process of planning what relocation would like like, and that is an intensive process because it's a lot of people," Strojan said. "It's a lot of one-bedroom units, and efficiency units, and that is something that we have a shortage of in the city of Louisville."

Greenberg said residents would most likely be moved to vacant apartments other LMHA properties. Residents may also be given vouchers to use to rent other apartments in Louisville.

The first resident relocation meetings will be held May 22-23 and last through much of the summer.

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