'Low Income Doesn't Mean Low Class': NW OKC Affordable Housing Complex To Receive $57 Million Renovation

A metro affordable housing complex could be getting some upgrades that residents claim are desperately needed.

“It’s been a nightmare since I’ve been here,” Beth Garcia, a tenant at the Alora Apartments, said. “My whole kitchen was nothing but molded. I can’t use my dishwasher.”

Garcia calls the conditions at the Alora Apartments unlivable.

“Turn my water on, matter of fact you smell nothing but sewage,” she said.

Abandoned, boarded-up apartments are scattered throughout the complex. The development company that took over the complex in 2021 says they now plan to invest $57 million into making major improvements.

“Low-income, affordable housing does not mean low class. Every tenant deserves to be treated with the same dignity and respect regardless of what the price of their rent is,” Craig Livingston, the managing partner at Exact Capital, said.

Exact Capital is the New York based real estate development firm that acquired and rebranded Alora Apartments in 2021.

He says renovating the property was always the plan, but government red tape and poor property management slowed them down.

“We’re out of state. We rely heavily on the onsite property manager to manage the property in a responsible manner, but it wasn’t being done,” Livingston said.

Now the company says it's moving forward with the revitalization plan.

“New kitchens, bathrooms, long-needed repairs to the plumbing infrastructure,” Livingston said.

The renovation would hopefully fix issues tenants like Garcia face daily.

“It would take a whole lot of improvement for me," Garcia said.

She said she's not fully convinced the change will come.

“I don’t see it happening because if it were it would’ve already been done a long time ago,” she said.

But Livingston assured that the time is now and says construction starts in August.

“We’re ready to give these tenants what they finally deserve,” Livingston said.