By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Tenants of a low-income housing complex in the Hawthorne Hills neighborhood are concerned that they could lose their homes.

That's because Provail, a statewide non-profit organization which provides services to people with disabilities and the owner of the Provail Burke-Gilman Apartments, is currently looking to sell the two buildings, located at 5020 and 5120 40th Ave NE.

The building's 12 residents are all adults who suffer from disabilities of varying severity, ranging from blindness to speech impediments and epilepsy. They rely on special features of the apartments that make them more accessible to people with special needs such as walk-in showers and peep holes built lower so they are easier to reach.

"It's truly a home for the 12 folks who live there and it's unique in being so perfectly accessible and such a lovely place to live," said Siobhan Ring, lead organizer with the Tenants Union.

Ring has gotten to know the Burke-Gilman apartments very well since the Provail Burke-Gilman Tenant's Organizing Committee contacted her for help last November. With her assistance the Burke-Gilman tenants mailed letters to perspective buyers this August. The tenants are looking for a landlord who will allow them to stay in their homes.

The apartments were built by Provail in 1984 with help from Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In exchange, for providing guaranteed rent subsidies and an insured loan Provail entered a 20-year contract with HUD to provide low-income housing. Tenants of the Provail Burke-Gilman apartments pay 30 percent of their income for rent and HUD picks up the rest of the tab. The total rent per unit last year was $640 per month.

However, Provail's contract with HUD, which is similar to that of other low-income housing providers, ends in 2004. After that, landlords must choose to renew on a yearly basis. "A lot of (building) owners have wanted out," Ring said.

Provail has been interested in selling the apartments for quite a while. In an October 1998 letter to HUD, then-Housing Development Manager Darin Christensen said Provail wanted to end its contract early and sell the apartments to the Ronald McDonald House, a national organization which provides housing for families with seriously ill children, and has a facility located just next door to the apartments at 5000 40th Ave NE. The apartments would then have been used to house children recovering from bone marrow transplants.

HUD refused Provail's request and Children's Hospital sent a letter to the Burke-Gilman tenants dated March 14, 2001, which stated "Children's has expressed interest in the Provail property. However, Children's and Ronald McDonald will not proceed in any fashion that will displace people from their homes at Burke-Gilman."

But Provail is still seeking to sell the property. The Burke-Gilman apartments are the only property of that kind Provail owns. Unlike other Provail housing units, there are no is no direct care service provided by Provail at the site, and the apartments group people with disabilities together instead of placing them in neighborhoods with non-disabled people.

"Philosophically we don't agree with that kind of congregate housing," Christensen said."We have this housing that is an asset that could be turned into services for more people."

Christensen said that Provail is working with the tenants to find a non-profit buyer for the apartments. Ring confirmed that the tenants discussed that plan with Provail on July 18, saying the tenants will look for a buyer who will agree to renew the HUD contract. So far, they have spoken with one unnamed nonprofit which may be interested in purchasing the building.

"We feel very hopeful," Ring said. (