The Little Rock-based Metropolitan Housing Alliance is prioritizing its infrastructure needs to decide how best to spend $1.24 million in federal funding it received last week, Executive Director Rodney Forte said Thursday.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the agency an $866,845 capital fund grant to repair, renovate or modernize public housing, and two replacement housing grants worth $375,671 to build new units.
In all, HUD awarded $1.8 billion to housing authorities across the nation. Arkansas agencies received $16.3 million of that.
"These housing authorities use the funding to do large-scale improvements such as replacing roofs or making energy-efficient upgrades to replace old plumbing and electrical systems," a HUD news release said of the capital grant.
Forte told the Little Rock Housing Authority board of commissioners Thursday that he isn't sure yet how the Metropolitan Housing Alliance will spend the funds.
"We will carefully prioritize our capital needs, as well as replacement housing plans, and present a plan to our Board of Commissioners during the second quarter of this year," he said in a news release.
The agency owns 902 public housing units, 200 low-rent housing units and 158 market-rate units, and administers 2,083 federal Section 8 housing choice vouchers.
The capital fund grants are standard and awarded yearly by HUD, but a housing authority never knows exactly how much the grant will be. The replacement housing grants are awarded to agencies that have retired some of their public housing units. Those grants can accrue over time and assist a housing authority with building new units to replace the ones either demolished or taken out of service.
In Metropolitan Housing Alliance's case, it demolished its Hollinsworth Grove development in 2008 and is now going through the procedure to sell the 24 acres of land to the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field.
The 180 units at the complex were outdated and became too costly to repair and keep in compliance with city codes and housing standards, Director of Assets Carl Smith said.
Forte told commissioners Thursday that federal grant money has dwindled over the years.
"It requires us to really make really good decisions about what we are going to replace, fix and upgrade on. If all of our inventory were new, it'd be a much easier decision, but we have a very old inventory so we want to make the best decision we can," Forte said.
In addition to accepting the grants, the board of commissioners approved a contract with two marketing firms and authorized changes in the way the housing agency administers its Section 8 program.
The agency will contract with The Design Group and The Organization Leadership Edge for marketing and public relations services. After federal sequestration in 2013 cut the agency's budget, officials decided not to retain the marketing firm with which it had been contracting.
Now there is a need for one, Forte told the housing board.
"We certainly feel like moving forward and that some of the stories we need to tell need to be told and we need to shine some light on some things we are doing in some other ways as well," Forte said. "As part of the new marketing campaign, what we are trying to do is shine new light on how we do business and try to make it even easier."
One thing the marketing firms will be working on is the housing agency's website. LRhousing.org crashed in November and has been down ever since. The public used to be able to access information about the agency's services, and certain forms and documents on the website.
Forte said Thursday that changes that the board approved in the agency's Section 8 Administrative Plan should benefit the agency and tenants. There are 34 alterations total, but most just eliminate redundancies in the plan document.
Five of the changes actually alter the way the agency operates.
The board approved increasing the time that tenants have to report changes in incomes from 10 days to 30 days, giving tenants a payment plan option instead of requiring full payment within 30 days; removing the requirement that agency officials interview tenants who have no incomes every 90 days; clearing up a policy that prevents the agency from paying for two units in one month when a tenant moves; and removing the rule that someone who stays 14 collective days or more in a unit over a year's time must be on the lease.
Director of Compliance Jeannie Owens said some of those requirements were a burden on the staff and tenants, and that the changes should make it easier for tenants to comply with the rules, as well as give staff members time to process paperwork.
Metro on 02/20/2015