UTICA, Mich. – Seniors in Utica fear they may be forced out of their homes after the City Council voted Tuesday to sell an affordable senior housing complex.
There's no guarantee that a new owner of Riverside 175 will keep the complex as affordable housing, and its residents say they can't afford higher rent.
"I'm here on disability. I don't know what I'm going to do, I really don't," said resident James Galant.
Residents have been told not to worry about a problem that hasn't presented itself yet.
"Last night it was, 'Don't worry about it. You don't know [if] the rent's going to go up. You don't know that that's going to happen to you. Don't worry about it,'" resident Richard Chester said.
Mayor Thom Dionne reiterated that seniors shouldn't speculate what may happen.
"There's a lot of panic and maybe some extraordinary assumptions that have been made by the residents that believe that they're going to be put out on the street, and that's simply not the case," he said. "Rent could potentially go up if a new investor were to buy the property."
The potential of increased rent has many seniors worried.
"You go without your medicine, you go without your insurance, you go without food," resident Linda Gafford said. "Some of us are going to be homeless. There's no place for us to go."
Funds from the complex's sale would likely go toward city obligations, such as an underfunded employee pension fund.
"Our seniors are one of our most precious assets in our city and we care about them," Dionne said. "However, we have a fiduciary responsibility to the remaining 5,000 residents in the city."