Low-cost rental closing leaves families uncertain

It's always heart-wrenching to receive bad news around Christmas time, but for 22 households now living in one of the lower-cost rental properties in McCook, the notice that St. Catherine's Apartments would close by Feb. 1 is especially poignant.

The apartments were a bargain -- $260 to $310 a month, water, gas and cable TV included -- but the building was only about half full, and we can't blame the owner, who reportedly has been losing money for years despite efforts to maintain and improve the property.

The building, the former St. Catherine's Hospital, was transformed into apartments after the construction of Community Hospital in the early 1970s.

Barring some sort of miracle, McCook will be home to another vacant building, this one a half-block long and four stories high.

Simple economics seem to dictate that a smaller supply of affordable housing will result in higher prices at a time when slow economic conditions and unemployment are making it hard for many families to make ends meet, and even avoid becoming homeless.

Barb Ostrum of the Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska, and Rebecca Dutcher, director of the McCook Housing Agency are scrambling to do what they can to find housing for the neediest of residents.

If you're a landlord with rentals available, contact Ostrum's office at (308) 345-1187 or the housing agency at (308) 345-3605.

Let's hope there will be "room at the inn" for displaced St. Catherine's Apartment residents in time for Christmas.