Housing Authority

Members delay approving expenditure plan

FAYETTEVILLE — Housing Authority Board members postponed Thursday approving the five-year expenditure plan the group needs to get federal money.

“It’s getting down to the deadline,” consultant Randall J. Hoeschen told the Fayetteville Housing Authority board.

The authority must turn in an updated five-year capital expenditures plan by July 17, per U.S. Housing and Urban Development regulations, board members said. Otherwise the authority will not receive the federal money, Executive Director Deniece Smiley said.

The authority expects to get about $281,000 from the federal government for this year. About $ 165,000 was left from 2017. That money will go toward helping cover costs for an emergency grant needed to fix sewer lines at Hillcrest Towers, Smiley said.

An average of $246,600 annually has come from the federal government over the past five years to pay for basic maintenance and repair at the authority’s properties. Bigger projects, such as replacing the sewer lines at Hillcrest Towers, require an emergency federal grant. That grant hasn’t yet been officially approved, said Hoeschen.

The board annually revisits and approves its five-year plan, which is similar to a “wish list” for how the board wants to spend its money, Chairman Mike Emery said.

Commissioners will consider, again, whether to approve its 2018- 2022 plan during the second week of July. The board, however, didn’t set an official date for the special meeting.

If the board doesn’t approve its five-year plan by deadline, the authority will not receive the federal money, Smiley said. Commissioners said they needed more time to look at the document.

The authority operates four properties: Willow Heights, 10 S. Willow Ave.; Lewis Plaza, 401 S. Lewis Ave.; Hillcrest Towers, 1 N. School Ave.; and Morgan Manor, 324 E. 12th Place. Maintenance at the first three properties comes strictly from federal dollars, while Morgan Manor is under a system called the Rental Assistance Demonstration program, which combines public and private equity.

The federal money isn’t as stable as what the authority could achieve by moving property to the rental assistance program, said Bob Beale, conversion specialist.

The authority has been considering how best to improve its properties for years, commissioners said. A company recently looked at three of the authority’s properties to analyze needs, Smiley said. That report shows the properties are in “trouble,” Smiley said.

Without action soon, the authority is at risk of being put into receivership, Smiley said. At that point the authority board would be dissolved, Beale said. Local control would be removed.

At least 35 residents appeared at the meeting Thursday to voice concerns about how the authority is handling its property. One option is to sell Willow Heights, for example, but residents said they worried selling the property will mean more homelessness in Fayetteville.

People already struggle to find affordable housing, said Solomon Burchfield, director of operations for 7Hills Homeless Center. Burchfield said he was speaking as a concerned individual and not for the center.

Emery said the board hasn’t approved anything yet. “We haven’t made a decision yet,” he told residents.

NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID GOTTSCHALK Joy Gilbert of Fayetteville looks Wednesday at the University of Arkansas’ Community Design Center’s livability plan for Willow Heights, a public housing apartment complex near downtown, on display at the Fayetteville Public Library. Models of the center’s plan includes facade improvement and landscaping.