Mayor wants all involved to discuss public housing

FAYETTEVILLE — City administrators hope residents, neighbors, Housing Authority officials and City Council members will come together on the future of public housing after a meeting Tuesday.

For more than a year, members of the public have been at odds with the Housing Authority over what to do with Willow Heights, a public housing property with about 100 residents at 10 S. Willow Ave. Authority officials have said the 40-unit complex is crumbling, with dilapidated infrastructure and continuous

maintenance needs.

The Housing Authority board voted in March 2017, after a year of meetings, to sell the complex to a private landowner, Vlad Tatter, for $1.25 million. Residents would move to another property the authority manages, Morgan Manor, at 324 E. 12th Place. The sale is set to close in 2022.

Outspoken residents, most of whom live in south

Fayetteville, began questioning the move soon thereafter. Melissa Terry, who helped lead the effort against the move before the City Council appointed her in October to the Housing Authority’s board, has said moving residents from Willow Heights to Morgan Manor equates to a concentration of poverty. She also has urged the board to consider renovating Willow Heights.

Crowds packed Housing Authority, Planning Commission and City Council meetings on the topic. Tempers flared. Discussions got lost in a myriad of detail.

Mayor Lioneld Jordan said he hopes to see a meeting of the minds. He wants to hear what the public, Housing Authority and council members have to say.

“I’ve got about three or four irons in the fire on this,” Jordan said.

HOW WE GOT HERE

The authority had until July 17 to submit its annual and five-year capital plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, per federal requirements. It did so without Jordan’s signature, said Deniece Smiley, executive director of the Housing Authority.

That night, the City Council added a resolution to its agenda to recommend Jordan approve or change the plans. The federal government requires a signature from a housing authority’s local administration in order to award capital money. The authority is set to receive $281,425. Board Chairman Mike Emery said after Tuesday’s meeting the council’s action could have jeopardized the authority receiving the money.

A HUD representative in Little Rock told city officials the money wasn’t in jeopardy, and Jordan could send the form by the end of the month.

The council tabled the resolution until Aug. 7, but Jordan wanted to have the discussion before the Housing Authority’s Thursday meeting. Jordan called a special City Council meeting for Tuesday.

City Attorney Kit Williams said the council could recommended changes to the Housing Authority’s plan for Jordan to consider. Jordan could then sign the plan with the recommendations included.

“It doesn’t mean the Housing Authority has to change their plan, nor does that mean Mayor Jordan will not sign the certificate if they do not change it,” Williams said. “Certainly nobody wants to have the Housing Authority not receive their funds.”

Smiley sent the plans to the city June 20, according to interdepartmental email. The city’s Community Resources Division worked with the authority on revisions, said Yolanda Fields, community resources director. The plans entered the administration’s system July 11, and Williams, Chief Financial Officer Paul Becker and Chief of Staff Don Marr reviewed them. The plans hit Jordan’s desk late Monday, and he first read them Tuesday, Marr said.

The Housing Authority Board began discussing the annual and five-year plans in March. It took up the item during its June meeting. The board approved the plans during a special meeting July 9.

Emery said Friday he and the authority would refrain from comment until the meeting.

“We want to focus on getting things lined up and prepared for whatever the outcome will be,” he said.

THE HISTORY

The plan to move Willow Heights residents to Morgan Manor would add 58 units to the 52-unit complex. Eighteen of the units would be market rate.

Morgan Manor operates under a form of Section 8 called the Rental Assistance Demonstration program, which combines public and private equity to provide assistance to low-income residents. Capital money for the authority’s other properties — Willow Heights, Lewis Plaza at 401 S. Lewis Ave., and Hillcrest Towers, 1 N. School Ave., comes from HUD.

The authority’s board first started talking about selling Willow Heights in March 2016, according to meeting minutes. The board approved converting Morgan Manor to RAD in May 2016.

A key part of the plan to move Willow Heights residents to an expanded Morgan Manor hinges upon a tax credit from the Arkansas Development Finance Authority. A large chunk of the estimated $8 million project to build onto Morgan Manor would come from the credit and sale of Willow Heights. The authority didn’t get the tax credit a year ago, but plans to apply for it again.

The five-year plan also includes the possibility of demolishing Lewis Plaza and converting the Housing Authority’s properties to rental assistance. Council members also are likely to discuss on Tuesday the authority’s deconcentration of poverty policy and the amount it pays for consultants, particularly those hired to oversee the rental assistance conversion process, per a memorandum from Assistant City Attorney Blake Pennington.

NOT IDEAL

Summer Dawn was moving out of Willow Heights on Friday. She lived in her apartment since December, although she has always lived in that part of town. Dawn said the complex needs central heat and air, a laundromat and a better playground. She didn’t feel secure living there, she said.

“I’ve been right here 23 years of my life, same block. I’ve seen so much,” Dawn said. “I just want to see that for these people.”

Emery most recently pointed to a burst water pipe at Willow Heights as evidence of the dilapidated conditions. The pipe, installed in the early 1970s, broke sometime early Monday and was repaired Tuesday evening. Inadequate funding from the federal government has contributed to the aging property’s state of disrepair, he said.

“I urge all citizens who are concerned about this to contact HUD, their members of Congress and even the White House and ask that they fund housing authorities to the proper levels necessary to accomplish their goals of helping people in need,” Emery said in a news release.

The authority needs to partner with the city and organizations to accomplish its goals, Terry said. The two entities could work out costshare arrangements, and the authority could seek grant opportunities to turn the $281,000 into a larger amount, she said.

Terry made arrangements for a grant to pay for the design of a landscape and facade improvement plan for Willow Heights from the University of Arkansas’ Community Design Center. She also suggested earlier in the year holding a board retreat to discuss the plans, but the retreat hasn’t happened.

“This could all be prevented with good planning,” Terry said.

Terry and a group of concerned residents set up a GoFundMe account to raise $15,000 for air-conditioning units for Willow Heights. The final day to contribute is Friday.