Housing authority changes leaders

FAYETTEVILLE — The Housing Authority will operate under a new interim deputy director until a permanent director is hired by November.

Audra Butler, who previously served as director of housing, has moved up in leadership following the resignation Wednesday of Victoria Dempsey, the previous interim deputy director. The agency’s previous deputy director, John Berry, resigned effective Sept. 1. The shift comes amid months of strife among staff and board members.

In separate resignation letters, Dempsey and Berry pointed to the conduct of the board, and, in particular, its chairwoman, Melissa Terry, as the reason they left.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is investigating the authority over compliance with federal rules and regulations. The agency’s Departmental Enforcement Center made 20 records requests, particularly pertaining to money the authority owes to its nonprofit, FHA Development.

The federal agency had sent several letters to the Housing Authority before the records request over concerns with misuse of public housing money on FHA Development properties that contained no public housing units.

The nonprofit is the development arm of the authority. It has a separate board consisting of the same members of the Housing Authority board except one. The board had planned to use the nonprofit to purchase and renovate several multifamily properties.

It has since relinquished ownership and is working on deals to sell all of its properties.

Butler said staffing at the Housing Authority is lean, especially with its Section 8 program. The program provides vouchers to low-income residents to subsidize rents at private properties. Two of the program’s positions will be vacant by Oct. 1, she said.

There are about 30 employees at the agency. Butler said she’s looking at vacancies in one-third of the authority’s staff with more resignations possible.

“Morale is low, but we’re focused on doing our jobs and doing our jobs to the best of our ability,” she said.

There are about 2,500 people on the wait list for the Section 8 voucher program, Butler said. Average wait time to be housed is three years, she said.

The agency is missing key leadership positions, such as executive director and finance manger, Butler said. Staffing for the public housing and maintenance sides of the agency remains adequate, she said.

Butler is the fifth top leader the agency has had in the past three years. The board fired former Executive Director Deniece Smiley in September 2018.

Angela Belford came on as executive director after that, but the board fired her in March after residents and former staff made complaints against her. Berry served as interim executive director until his resignation, followed by Dempsey.

The board has a plan to bring in staff from other housing agencies to help train new staff, Butler said. It also hired Gerald Turner with consultant firm HEAL Collective to help stabilize the organization.

Staff meetings with Turner began this week, Terry said. The board hired Turner on a 60-day contract for $19,500 and intends to have a permanent executive director hired by Nov. 1, she said.

Turner will work with staff on a plan to help the new director, Terry said. Board Member Kris Paxton also is serving on a committee to help address staffing needs, she said.

Terry said she’s taken it upon herself to help collect rent from FHA Development tenants under the federal Emergency Rental Assistance program. The nonprofit has made headway in collecting about $210,000 in unpaid rent, she said.

The money collected from FHA Development tenants would go toward a debt owed to the regular authority. Terry has said FHA Development’s revenue stream depended on tenant rent, but when the covid-19 pandemic hit, many of those tenants could not pay.

FHA Development owed the regular authority either about $79,000 or about $ 127,000 at the beginning of the month. The amount depends on if HUD awards the development nonprofit money from a federal grant to move residents from public housing complex Hillcrest Towers to a property the nonprofit bought, the former Hi-Way Inn & Motel, while emergency renovations were being done at the towers in 2019.

FHA Development also will receive $ 10,000 in aid from Washington County from its allocation of American Rescue Plan money, Terry said. Justices of the peace made the unanimous decision Thursday. The money is intended to help the nonprofit as it awaits payment from the Emergency Rental Assistance program, Terry said.

On Monday, the Housing Authority’s board held a nearly seven- hour- long special meeting to go over a leadership transition plan. Among items on the agenda was removing Terry as board chairwoman.

Board Member Kristen Scott made a motion to remove Terry, but the motion failed for lack of a second on the five-person board. Scott said she made the motion because of an ongoing lack of communication and lack of transparency between Terry and other board members.

Scott served as board chairwoman from 2019 to June, when three other board members voted to remove her from the position. Scott said she wants the board to step up and accept responsibility for the agency’s dire situation. Most of the agency’s leadership team is gone and there’s a critical need for staffing, she said.

“Right now, the house is on fire,” Scott said.