The city of Española finally plans to hand over management of the Española Public Housing Authority after years of poor audits, violations of federal law and overall mismanagement.
The Authority’s Board voted Monday to turn over all of its operations to the Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority starting Oct. 20. In the interim, the city will continue to provide administrative services to the Authority, while the Authority operates with an official crew of seven.
The Board’s decision came a day before a deadline imposed by the federal Housing Department had required the Authority to return a memorandum of agreement stating the Authority would be absorbed by another entity or risk being taken over by the Department.
“We’re just trying to safeguard the services the Housing Authority is providing to the poor people,” Board Chairman Francisco Simbona said.
The agreement states that Santa Fe Civic will oversee Española public housing for a 30-day period with the plan being to extend the contract to 90 days, Interim City Manager Veronica Albin said. Simbona said eventually an addendum to the contract will extend the agreement to anywhere from five to 10 years.
Albin said the city council would have to approve permanently transferring the Authority to Santa Fe Civic. In the interim, the memorandum calls for the Authority and city staff to work with Santa Fe Civic to prepare for the permanent transfer of authority.
This moves comes after the Department has threatened the Authority to either clean up its act or find another entity to do so.
The city began talks with Santa Fe Civic in July after an agreement with a Taos County partnership fell apart and the Board rejected an offer by Rio Arriba County.
Albin said Santa Fe Civic toured the Authority’s three public housing neighborhoods in September, and discussed the findings from an audit conducted this year that showed the Authority was overcharging low-income renters, had no proper waiting list and not following other federal guidelines. The SUN’s own investigation of the Authority’s Section 8 rental voucher program revealed how the Authority had been accused of fraud, paying certain landlords improperly and not having required documents.
“The conditions at the (Authority) at the time of this review are so egregious that it appears unlikely that the (Authority) will be able to correct the deficiencies within a reasonable time,” the audit states.
The audit resulted in the Authority being categorized as “troubled” for at least the sixth consecutive year. The audit warned that mismanagement and a total lack of accountability have left the agency open to fraud and potential litigation.
Layoffs?
According to the memorandum with Santa Fe Civic, current Authority employees will have the opportunity to reapply for positions with Santa Fe Civic, including the positions they currently hold. There are currently seven Authority employees. There is no guarantee that they will keep their jobs, Santa Fe Civic Executive Director Ed Romero said.
“Nobody in the Authority has the minimal knowledge to be operating an Authority,” Simbona said.
Simbona said the Board voted in August not to extend contracts with temporary workers. Those contracts expired Tuesday, which translated to the Authority losing three employees. The Authority still has a public housing coordinator, a Section 8 coordinator, a housing inspector and four maintenance workers.
Public Housing Coordinator Eluvina Cordova said when the city originally started talks with Taos and Rio Arriba counties authorities about being absorbed by another authority, she was told that her job was not in jeopardy.
“The biggest deal is my tenants, that’s all I care about,” she said. “I’m actually happy they’re giving (the Authority) to Santa Fe.”
Cordova said the Authority has been ignored by the city recently. She cited cuts in staffing and unfulfilled requests to fill a shortage of refrigerators.
“It’s like we’re the black sheep, making them look bad or worse,” she said.
Albin has decided to become the Authority’s acting executive director during the interim period. She took over the position from Community Services and Plaza Director Leroy Garcia who was appointed to the position for a 30-day period that ended Sept. 23. She is the sixth person to hold the position since January 2006 when long-time Authority director Leroy Salazar resigned.
Mayor Pro-tem Alice Lucero said the problems with the Authority stemmed from poor management.
“A good manager would have made the effort to bring it back into compliance,” she said. “In hindsight perhaps we should have hired someone with a good background in housing.”
Lucero said more oversight from the Department would have also been helpful.
“HUD should have done something about it (six years ago). We didn’t see them intervening until last year,” she said. “They shouldn’t have let it go as long as it did.”
The Department has threatened to takeover the Authority for years, and in 2006 it did relaunch an investigation into the Authority that dated back to the 1990s after the SUN published a four-week series exposing the Authority’s long-running problems and abuse of power. The findings of that investigation have never been made public.
The four-member Board will be dissolved at the next city council meeting scheduled for Oct. 28, Simbona said.
At this point, there does not seem to be a need for the Board, he said.
“I think it’s a good end,” he said. “It’s been a problematic program for the city of Española,” he said.
Romero said that initially Santa Fe Civic may charge a management fee. The city charges the federally-funded Authority around $140,000 for administrative services, Simbona said. Romero said the fees Santa Fe Civic charges could be less than that.
In the long term, Romero said any funding the Authority currently receives from the Department would continue to be allocated for its own use.
Romero expects the Santa Fe Civic’s Housing Board to approve the absorption of the Authority at an Oct. 15 meeting.