The Butler County Housing Authority is exploring the possibility of becoming a private nonprofit operation.

The move would convert the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development properties managed by the authority into long-term Section 8 rental assistance contracts.

The properties would then be owned and operated by the authority’s nonprofit group made up of the authority’s board.

“Ten years from now there won’t be public housing,” Perry O’Malley, the authority’s executive director, told board members Aug. 9. “We’re going to have to go in earlier or later.”

Section 8 housing is a voucher program in which renters pay a portion, typically 30 percent, of their monthly income to rent.

The authority’s move to a private, nonprofit operator would free it from many HUD guidelines and regulations, and lessen the authority’s dependence on a department whose funding is getting cut year after year, O’Malley said.

“We’re in a Democratic government right now and we’re still getting cut,” he said. “It’s not going to get any better.”

With the move, the properties would become assets, and the authority would be run much like a real estate business, O’Malley said.

If a move were to take place, the authority would still be bound to annual inspections by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency and other affordable housing guidelines.

The authority also would have to maintain at minimum the same number of units it had when it entered the program.

But in total, O’Malley said, it would be much more free in managing the properties.

While the management of the properties would undergo change, O’Malley was confident there would be little change for tenants.

“Tenants wouldn’t even know changes took place other than the improvements they’d see to the buildings,” O’Malley said.

The conversion is nothing out of the ordinary for HUD, which is encouraging the agencies it works with to research potential moves into the private sector.

HUD is allowing 60,000 unit conversions this year. Agencies such as the housing authority can apply for conversion.

If the conversion is approved, the authority then would agree to a commitment to enter into a housing assistance payment contract with HUD, creating the new Section 8 housing agreement.

The authority is already converting one of its properties to Section 8 housing under the program.

Authority officials will meet with the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency next month to finalize plans for the $11 million renovation project for its Terrace Apartments complex on South Cliff Street in Butler.

It is a move necessary to complete the project, O’Malley said.

“HUD gives us $250,000 a year to do it, so you can do the math,” he said. “And we still have $30 million worth of other buildings to maintain.”

Under the project, the authority will add eight new ADA-approved apartments and will add air conditioning and make other improvements to all the apartments.

O’Malley said $6 million will go to construction while the rest will go to refinancing the building’s debt.

The breakdown of the price will equate to about $40,000 per unit, O’Malley said. About $3.5 million of the construction cost will go toward the air conditioning for the more than 50-year-old building.

O’Malley said the authority will have 90 days to begin construction on the project following the Sept. 12 state agency board meeting.

The Terrace Apartments complex provides housing for limited income individuals over the age of 50.

Residents will not be relocated during the renovations.

The housing authority has 667 apartment units in 14 complexes in the county.