Interim housing director’s tenure extended

The interim executive director of Little Rock’s public housing authority will retain her position for an extra month, the agency’s board of commissioners decided with a unanimous vote at its Thursday meeting.

Ericka Benedicto took the helm of the Metropolitan Housing Alliance on a threemonth contract in September. She is the agency’s sixth executive director — interim, acting or on a permanent basis — in three years.

The board voted on the contract extension, with an end date of Jan. 15, after nearly an hour of executive session.

Board chairman Kenyon Lowe said in an interview that the agency is still searching for a permanent executive director, as advertised on its website.

“We’ve advertised and that’s all we can do,” Lowe said.

He also said Benedicto “carries out the mission of the housing authority” as its interim leader.

Benedicto served as Little Rock’s racial and cultural diversity manager from March 2009 to July 2021. She was previously an employee relations specialist at Baptist Health and worked as a volunteer with several nonprofits. Her professional history does not include public housing administration.

The Metropolitan Housing Alliance has seen frequent turnover in its leadership since November 2018, when Rodney Forte resigned as executive director.

Three other directors have come and gone since then, most recently Nadine Jarmon, who took the position on an official basis in April after nine months as interim director.

The board suspended Jarmon with pay in June after she filed a 161-page complaint to the city and the local field office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, alleging widespread misconduct by the board and calling for the removal of all five commissioners.

Former financial director Andy Delaney served as acting director since Jarmon’s suspension and after the board fired her on Aug. 25. Benedicto replaced Delaney after he left on Sept. 10.

The Alliance oversees about 900 traditional public housing units, 200 affordable housing units and 160 market-rate units. It also administers more than 2,000 Section 8 vouchers. It is the largest public-housing authority in Arkansas and provides housing assistance to about 8,000 low-income people.