Huntsville Housing Authority in the news
Mayor Battle recently asked Councilwoman Sandra Moon to sit in on Huntsville Housing Authority board meetings as a non-voting member. Moon was already capable of doing just that since the meetings are open to the public, but this puts up the facade of “doing something.”
In a tasty bit of irony some board members objected to the mayor’s decision.
“I’m disappointed and disillusioned that the City Council would conduct business this way,” said businessman Dick Fountain, a member of the authority board. “They’ve come to us when everything hit the fan in south Huntsville, saying that we did all this in secrecy, that there was no communication.
“For the City Council to pass something like this with no communication with the authority board,” he said, “it’s hard to understand.”
Remember the good old days when the HHA board thought it would be fun to covertly purchase a 50 unit luxury apartment complex in a nice part of town without so much as a hint? NOW they’re all about no surprises.
One of the government dependents objected to Moon’s presence at the board meeting as well saying, “One thing we don’t need is someone coming to meetings to slow down or block” the progress of the board. Actually, that is exactly what is needed. Moon asked some good questions and received the anticipated answer.
She asked about the possibility of converting Stone Manor in southwest Huntsville into a mixed-income complex, rather than public housing. And she asked if the authority had found a comparable city that had deconcentrated poverty with success.
The board did not immediately respond to her questions.
There’s a good reason the board has not been able to find a comparable city that has “deconcentrated poverty” with success.
And now the HHA is eyeing a 50 unit apartment complex in Madison. Say it with me: “reconcentrating poverty.”
Now at least in this case the HHA is buying what appears to be a blighted, troubled property and will make improvements to it. That is a good thing. But the decision also goes to show that we should not trust the HHA or its $148,000-a-year executive director, Michael Lundy, one bit. Back in April Lundy told the Times that “the public outcry has persuaded him that a 50-unit complex may be too large for a city this size.” Now he’s looking at purchasing a 50 unit property in a city less than one quarter the size of Huntsville. Hmmmm… Maybe Lundy hasn’t really learned his lesson yet.
To be clear, the second quoted passage from The Times came from an article in today’s paper:
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/local.ssf?/base/news/124514371645920.xml&coll=1
As for the Madison apartments, the only thing that makes that purchase somewhat acceptable is that it is already owned by the federal government. HUD bought it and ran it into the ground, and is now offering it to HHA for $1. So HHA will spend $1.2 million to fix it up so that it can be run into the ground again. But at least the HHA isn’t CREATING a problem this time, as it did with Stone Manor.
Why would HHA buy property in Madison? It would seem to me that would be overstepping their jurisdiction and would be something for the MHA to do. Additionally, this would be like sending our trash to China since our landfills are full. What’s the point? You’re just moving trash from this pile to that pile. The idea is to find a way to recycle the trash and turn it into something useful.
I really need to create an avatar for your blog as much as I’m here.
I believe HHA has the authority to buy property anywhere in Madison County; though I’m not positive about that.
Jonathan, you are correct. The HHA has jurisdiction to acquire properties (even using eminent domain, although that is not the case here) throughout Madison County.
Madison does not, as far as I know, have a housing authority.
I figured that was probably the case. If so, it seems to me that a name change is in order.
@Brian I wished you could nest comments more than one reply deep.
HHA needs some limitations put on it and a name change to more accurately represent their comprehensive subversive nature.
Re: nesting comments – I know, but it causes problem with my current Wordpress theme…
Really this brings up what I think is a VERY important issue. The HHA board is appointed entirely by the mayor of Huntsville. However, they have authority to reach out into Madison city and Madison County. The citizens in those two areas have absolutely no ballot box recourse or influence over a board that could dramatically alter the landscape of their communities. Similar to taxation without representation.
I wonder if you could do like Live Journal does and have comments fold up by default after a certiain number so that it wouldn’t throw the template off, but at the same time you could traverse the comments. When you opened the thread, you would expect that there might be some minor display problems, but that’s the nature of the beast.
Could HHA not be disbanded, presumably by the mayor?
Continuing to fight the HHA locally is a must, of course, but one thing that has become clear is that this is actually a national problem. The whole “decentralizing poverty” mantra is pushed directly from HUD. As a Times article last week noted, the HHA believes it will have a hard time getting funding for some of its rebuilding projects because they are located in high-poverty areas. But they can get all the money they want to build or buy units in middle-class areas. So as perverse as it is, the nicer the neighborhood they want to invade, the easier it is to get funding to do so. Watch out, Hampton Cove!
Unfortunately, there seems very little hope of getting this HUD policy changed. Dems love such destructive gimmickry (as long as it’s not in THEIR neighborhood, naturally), and the GOP won’t touch it because they don’t want to have to defend themselves against charges that they are racists who want to keep poor black folks confined to ghettos.
So unless you are rich enough to ensconce yourself in a high-end neighborhood that public housing cannot afford (e.g., The Ledges), it looks like you will have to resign yourself to moving every 5-10 years to keep ahead of the wave of government-led trampling on your way of life. Woo-hoo! Even a lack of apartments will not save a neighborhood now that HHA is buying houses, too.
You know, if the environmental lobby actually believed its own rhetoric and was not just a bunch of craven, partisan political hacks, it would come out strongly against this stuff. After all, one undeniable side-effect of all this crap is to create more and more urban sprawl as the middle class constantly flees the destruction of its neighborhoods. But being the good lap dogs they are, you can bet the tree-huggers will continue holding their tongues in this battle of liberal pieties.
An aside just to let some of you know the bigger picture: This development is about .3 miles from West Madison Elementary school. The area already looks cruddy so I’m not sure how much worse it can get. Maybe the “planned improvements” will actually make it look better.
The real matter is the justification and precedent that is given and set, respectively. I really don’t like the fact that the HHA has such long arms to reach outside of their local area. I’ve heard that Mayor Finley has been included on this but I don’t know much more than that. Do you think you could find out?
I had a big problem with HHA when they purchased Stone Manor (because it is a luxury apt complex with paying renters) but this might be a different story. I know “Paradise Apts” and that’s no paradise – actually it’s a nightmare place. I am glad HHA is buying it – renovating it. If the people are afraid of those project residents moving there — really, they can’t be more problem than the people who live there now.
Interesting tidbit – I live in the same neighborhood as Dick Fountain. About 75 homes, ranging from $300k to $3.0M+. With the exception of a new couple from India, there are no other minorities in the ‘hood. And, by the price of the homes, there aren’t any real poor folks, either. If this ‘decentralizing’ is such a great idea, why isn’t he all for introducing some housing in our subdivision? There is a house three doors down from him that would be perfect for redevelopment.
Do you even need to ask? He likes to “help the poor” by putting them in other people’s neighborhoods… just like he likes to do it with other people’s money. It’s so much easier to be generous with someone else’s stuff.
While the Paradise Apartments in Madison are a problem that needs to be addressed by the local authorities in Madison, I believe the Huntsville Housing Authority has over-stepped its boundaries. Title 24-1-23 states:
“The boundaries of such authority shall include said city and the area within 10 miles from the territorial boundaries of said city, but in no event shall it include the whole or a part of any other city nor any area included within the boundaries of another authority.”
I don’t believe the Huntsville Housing Authority operating inside the limits of another city is an option under state law. I understand they’ve been looking at these apartments for a few months now. I wonder if they’ve bothered to read the law or if they’ve found a loophole that would enable them to get around it. If it’s the former, it is a poor reflection on their competence; if it’s the latter, it’s a poor reflection on their integrity.
Defining legislation restricting such housing authorities needs to be brought up in the next Congress. It might also be worth imcluding penalties for previous such actions on the part of the housing authorities.
I heard that the city of Madison has shut down this project – is that true?
That is true and the circumstances don’t shine a positive light on the HHA. They had been contemplating purchasing this apartment complex since March. When did they approach the city of Madison? About a week ago. Only once HUD gave them a narrow window to commit. Sheer hubris to think they can just spring a decision like that on Madison at the last minute.
And to reiterate what Rep. Ball said, the HHA is either ignorant of the laws governing them, which is scary and reflects poorly on their management, or they willfully ignore them, which is even scarier because it would indicate they think they are above the law. They had no legal authority to pursue this deal and yet they did it anyway – and tried to keep it a secret as long as possible.
People need to wake up to what this group is doing.