Management of HUD funds under scrutiny

Local congressman presses Dayton after nearly $500K forfeited.

A federal agency said it has “significant and continuing” concerns about the city of Dayton’s ability to manage taxpayer dollars after the city forfeited nearly $500,000 in funding for not meeting statutory deadlines.

Dayton is at risk of losing millions more in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding if it does not get its act together and follow federal rules and requirements, U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, said this week.

Turner has called on the city to send him a detailed plan outlining what actions it will take to “address the mismanagement of HOME funds” as well as comply with federal rules associated with the HOME program, which gives money to communities across the nation to help create, renovate and expand affordable housing.

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, a Democrat running for governor, said the city is working to resolve the issues and accused Turner of playing politics.

The Dayton Daily News in July broke the story that Dayton forfeited about $477,000 in HOME dollars for missing key deadlines.

This week, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) spokesman Brian Sullivan told the newspaper that his agency has significant and continuing concerns about Dayton’s ability to manage taxpayer dollars.

“We are still working with the city to untangle what really is a confusing state of affairs with their HOME program,” he said.

Whaley said the city has consulted with U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman to work with HUD through the issues.

“I think it’s pretty obvious we’ve had issues up on the sixth floor, and we’re working through those and continuing to work through those,” she said, referring to the department of planning and community development, which is located on the sixth floor of City Hall.

The director and executive secretary of the department resigned in June after being placed on administrative leave the previous month for reasons not made public.

This week, Turner sent a letter to the city of Dayton saying the city is at risk of losing almost $4 million in HOME funds if it cannot meet statutory deadlines.

Turner told this newspaper he met with HUD officials, who were “very concerned” about the city’s management of funds that are distributed to support low-income housing in the city.

HUD “believes the city does not adequately understand what they need to do to make certain they don’t lose money in the future,” Turner said.

In a statement last week, Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein said the nearly $4 million Turner referenced has been committed thought the city’s 2015, 2016 and 2017 action plans.

Earlier this year, HUD notified the city of Dayton that it was “deobligating” $476,624 from its HOME account because the city did not have signed and executed agreements with two contractors by deadline.

Congress set a two-year deadline for cities to commit the funds they are allocated to try to ensure that funds are put to use in a timely manner, HUD officials said.

Dayton received just less than $1.1 million in HOME dollars for fiscal year 2016.

The city did not have to repay HUD, and the affordable housing projects that did not meet the commitment deadlines were completed, Dickstein said.

Dickstein said the twoyear commitment requirement has been suspended for 2016-2019 because HUD recognized the challenges in deadline regulations.

But Turner said Dayton has an immediate need for affordable housing and they should not take years to commit and spend the money.

For fiscal year 2015, the city had $158,000 of its HOME funds committed, but about $1 million was not committed, according to Turner’s office.

HUD’s complaints with the city goes back 10 years, and those concerns still have not been addressed, Turner said.

“They are still in touch with my office and still very concerned that the city of Dayton is still not in compliance,” Turner said.

Whaley said the city must and will take care of the issues, noting assistance from Sens. Portman and Brown to work with HUD.

She said Turner has chosen to send letters and press releases instead of actually try to help.

“I think he’s just doing his politics,” she said.