LAFAYETTE — Tenants with the Lafayette Housing Authority can now handle their affairs in person again. The office closed its doors to the public in December 2020, due to the pandemic.
During a grand re-opening on Thursday, July 1, director Lydia Bergeron announced the office is officially open to the public.
"We're looking forward to them coming into our office now. Having their paperwork signed and reviewed, that way it'll be face to face rather than through a glass," Bergeron said.
"Things are slowly coming along again, thank you Jesus," said long-time tenant Leshia Carter.
Carter told KATC it has been difficult to get things done in her apartment because of the office being shut down for the past year.
"You can't communicate with people in the office. You would have to talk through the door or on the telephone," she said.
Carter said that because of COVID-19, if anything in her apartment broke, she had to be patient.
"If you did have something wrong in the unit, it would take a little longer. It's kind of scary having people in your unit. You don't know if they have COVID or not, so people would sit back and just wait," she said.
"With the pandemic, we had to be very careful, make sure we were protected and the residents were protected. So the challenge was to be able to meet them one on one," Bergeron explained.
The Lafayette Housing Authority is also renovating several homes.
"It's not what they're accustomed to. It's brand new equipment, refrigerators, stoves so forth," Bergeron said.
According to Bergeron, residents will be able to move into the homes when the renovations are complete in 2022.
