Recently, the board of commissioners of Little Rock's Metropolitan Housing Alliance has been under fire for improper conduct and the top position has changed hands four times in three years.
Back up: What does the Metropolitan Housing Alliance do and who runs it?
The Metropolitan Housing Alliance is Little Rock’s federally funded public housing authority. It provides housing assistance to about 8,000 people.
The agency has four employees and is overseen by a five-person board of commissioners. The board is self-appointed, subject to approval by the Little Rock board of directors and the mayor.
Nadine Jarmon is the executive director and the chairman of the board of commissioners is Kenyon Lowe.
Why did Jarmon ask Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. to dismiss the agency’s board of commissioners?
On June 23, Jarmon sent a 161-page memo with supporting documents to Scott and the Little Rock field office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development accusing the board of:
- Unnecessary spending
- Sidestepping necessary federal approvals
- Conflicts of interest between commissioners and parties involved in transactions with the housing authority
Are these new concerns?
No, they’re not. Last year, a group of anonymous agency employees sent a letter to the mayor’s office requesting the removal of the board.
The letter said the board had “shown great incompetence in its failure to understand the housing programs it oversees while adamantly injecting themselves in the day-to-day activities.”
Jarmon is the fourth executive director in three years after her predecessors resigned alleging board overreach. Lowe said the complaints are “conjecture” and the board has nothing to do with daily operations.
Additionally, the agency has received low marks nationally according to annual scores released by the federal housing department. Between 2012 and 2016, the agency was a “substandard performer” in management and was categorized as “troubled” in 2017.
Then what happened?
After Jarmon sent the memo, Lowe, the agency’s chairman, sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requesting a federal investigation.
The board of commissioners voted unanimously to suspend Jarmon until an internal investigation concludes.
The board hired Pinnacle Strategy Group for the internal investigation, but the Little Rock field office of the federal housing department ordered the agency to terminate the contract or provide documents that show its legality. The Metropolitan Housing Alliance is terminating the contract.
What happens next?
The federal housing department has primary jurisdiction over the agency, so the city isn’t authorized to oversee and discipline the agency.
A federal housing department regional spokesperson said the department is examining the complaint and supporting documents, and will try to substantiate all the claims before initiating an investigation, which could include the inspector general's office.
Read more about the ongoing investigation from reporter Tess Vrbin, and go here to sign up for our Little Rock-centric newsletter, This Week in Little Rock.