May Housing Board Meeting

The SHA monthly board meeting was held on May 31.

Pictured are Bill Russell (Executive Director), Carmen Valenti (HUD Receiver and Board), and Jackie Diaz (new resident liason).

There was a discussion of the "admissions and continual occupancy policy" concerning how late rent payment and eviction. The new policy says that the first three late payments will result in notification of policy violation that could result in eviction. The fourth late payment will require a stipulation be signed to avoid immediate eviction. The stipulation states that the resident agrees to eviction if there is a subsequent late rent payment.

Valerie Buchand commented that clarification of the language was needed to prevent misunderstanding. The board agreed.

The community service policy was discussed - this is a requirement of HUD - that able bodied residents that are head of household and not employed must work 8 hours per month at a documented community service project.

Valerie Buchand presented the background and information about the established Parents Support Group. It was agreed that as long as documentation of attendance and time was recorded, this would meet the community service requirement.

The decision by the selection committee to select 5 developers from the submitted 10, as the best qualified, was announced. Dale White's article in the Herald Tribune covers this selection. The next step will be submission of development proposals by these 5 companies.

Also, in the crime report it was noted that drugs continue to be the major issue faced by the Housing Authority. They continue to work closely with the police but cleaning up this criminal activity is a tough task. The section of Dixie between 21st and 24th was noted as being the area of 4 evictions soon after the HA's "one strike policy" for drug activity was established. Recently 2 more warrants were served by the police and subsequent HA evictions have been initiated because evidence of drug activity was discovered.

Jackie Diaz has replaced Valerie Buchand as the Resident Liason on the HA Board. Jackie has been involved in public housing issues and is a community leader.