Legere says he makes enough profit from his commercial properties and conventional apartments that he doesn't need to make money off his subsidized housing. Meadowlark Apartments off Meadow Road and Century Apartments off Park Avenue. There, rents increase an average of 5 percent a year. Neither figure includes the cost of electricity. At Cleveland Place, the rent means an apartment, heat, electricity, an elevator, a secured entrance, emergency pull cords in each room, a common area with regular activities, and a full-time maintenance man to keep an eye on things.
Tenants pay their own telephone and cable television bills.
Finding affordable housing is a problem all over the country, Roundtree says, but it's particularly a problem in New England, New York, Chicago, and other places where the housing market is very strong and not many new apartments are being constructed. Not all Section 8 landlords are unhappy with the program. He says the nonprofit group that owns Cheshire Homes has been very happy with what subsidies they've been offered. Sometimes the group even gets 3 percent annual increases. We are going to renew for as long as we're permitted.