Residents on hunt to find new housing after given notice
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Tenants in Chateau Maroon, a senior apartment complex in Starkville, have been notified that they have 11 months to find a new place to call home.
However, many in Starkville are running into a growing issue.
For many residents, Chateau Maroon has been home for years, but now that home has an expiration date. Tenants have been given 11 months to find a new place to live.
Chateau Maroon is one of several properties that are closing in Starkville as the owners have sold and are wanting to retire.
Brandi Herrington of Starkville Strong says they’ve received an influx of calls to help find new homes, but they’re running into a recurring problem: affordable housing in Starkville.
“They gave them 11 months. But even with 11 months, that’s not a lot of time when there’s not a lot of housing available here to place them in, affordable housing. I don’t think the sale caused a housing crisis; it just revealed it for us.”
She says, like many people, Starkville Strong learned of the sale online. It has caused an ongoing discussion in many of the Starkville groups.
There is available housing in Starkville, and there are projects in the works to provide more. But the key issue is affordability.
Herrington says the housing authority has a waiting list a year long, and the places that will accept government resources for housing are few and far in between.
“I think that we absolutely have to address that we need student housing. You know, we do have people who travel here for things, but we cannot just focus on that we have to think about the workers, the families, the teachers, the police officers who are having to leave outside of Starkville because they can’t afford it here.”
But Starkville Strong is working to help as many people as they can. And they would love to partner with others. They just want to be able to come together to figure out a viable solution. Not just for the tenants facing this issue, but for others who are all saying the same thing — we just want affordable housing in Starkville.
“I want to come to the table and talk about solutions. I know there’s a lot of things that can’t be done but I want to have discussions about what can be done to affect this affordable housing crisis that we have in Starkville.”
