HUD grants $1.8 billion to local housing authorities and elsewhere

HUD grants $1.8 billion to local housing authorities and elsewhere

By Lynda Carson - March 23, 2014

Berkeley - On Wednesday March 19, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it has granted $1.8 billion in capital funding to 3,100 Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) to improve and preserve public housing. This is good news for housing agencies that will actually use the funds for maintenance and repair of their public housing units.

However, the bad news is that executives in many PHAs all across the nation are currently colluding with wealthy corporate elites to grab our nation's public housing units from the poor. They scheme to privatize, and sell our public housing units to wealthy non profit and for profit so-called affordable housing developers. Once our public housing units are disposed of and converted to so-called affordable housing projects, the poor are being displaced from their housing, and face discrimination because most so-called affordable housing developers use minimum income requirements to keep the poor out of their so-called affordable housing projects.

California Housing Agencies Are To Receive $69,788,666 From HUD

In California, 52 housing agencies are receiving a total of $69,788,666 in capital funds from HUD to repair and maintain their public housing units. According to HUD, California currently has 38,719 public housing units, and on average this works out to be around $1,802.43 in capital funds being available to repair and maintain these public housing units. However, all PHAs are not equal, and it turns out that some PHAs will receive more in capital funds for their public housing units than others.

Out of the 52 housing agencies in California receiving funds from HUD, according to public records only one of those housing agencies receiving capital funds from HUD to repair and maintain public housing units, does not currently own any public housing units. It is the Berkeley Housing Authority.

According to a March 13, 2014, memorandum from the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA), Berkeley's 75 public housing town homes were sold to out-of-state billionaires Jorge M. Perez, and Stephen M. Ross of the Related Companies, and ownership of the public housing units were transferred to the billionaires on February 14, 2014.

Despite the fact that HUD's records also reveal that the BHA no longer owns any public housing units, on March 19, HUD announced that it has awarded the BHA $112,344 in capital funds to repair and maintain it's 75 former public housing units. This works out to around $1,497.92 in funds per housing unit, and considering that the BHA no longer owns any public housing units, it appears that the executives in the BHA may be involved in fraud if they misuse the $112,344 awarded from HUD.

The Oakland Housing Authority (OHA) was awarded $6,502,696 from HUD to repair and maintain it's 2,121 public housing units, and this works out to be around $3,065.86 in funding per unit. However, out of 3,100 PHAs across the nation, the OHA is one out of 39 demonstration Moving-To-Work Housing Authority's (MTWs) that do not have to abide by the normal rules and regulations other PHAs have to follow, and at this point it is not clear what the funding will be used for. Unlike most other PHAs, MTWs are allowed to mix public housing funds with Section 8 housing choice voucher funds into one huge slush fund, and it is difficult to follow the money.

As an example, during 2012, HUD was under fire from the Government Accounting Office (GAO) for the lack of accountability with it's MTW housing authorities, and the GAO ridiculed any assertion by HUD that an MTW's activities can be evaluated properly. Additionally, during a 2012 oversight hearing, HUD Inspector General David Montoya (IG) publicly criticized the Public Housing Authority of Philadelphia, as an example of the corruption of MTWs.

Montoya (IG) stated that the PHA in Philadelphia is an MTW demonstration program that was legally allowed to use $1.1 million of it's funding to fight against the oversight of the IG's office, and was allowed to use money to hire outside legal counsel to shadow "IG staff" that were auditing the housing authority, when it could have used the money on housing instead.

The Alameda County Housing Authority will receive $420,422 from HUD for it's 72 public housing units, which works out to around $5,839.19 per unit.

The San Francisco Housing Authority will receive $10,354,558 from HUD for it's 6,592 public housing units, which works out to around $1,570.77 per unit. The City of South San Francisco Housing Authority will receive $117,537 for it's 80 public housing units, which works out to around $1,469.21 per unit.

The Richmond Housing Authority will receive $782,201 for it's 715 public housing units, which works out to around $1,093 per unit.

The Housing Authority of Contra Costa County will receive $1,696,459 for it's 1,177 public housing units, which works out to be around $1,441.34 per unit.

The Housing Authority of Marin County will receive $804,969 for it's 496 public housing units, which works out to around $1,622.92 per unit.

The City of Livermore Housing Authority will receive $185,807 for it's 125 public housing units, which works out to be around $1,486 per unit.

The Santa Cruz County Housing Authority will receive $341,487 for it's 234 public housing units, which works out to around $1,459.34 per unit.

The Housing Authority of the County of Santa Clara will receive $656,129 for it's 20 public housing units, which works out to a whopping incredible $32,806.45 per unit.

The Fresno Housing Authority will receive $1,413,306 for it's 1,006 public housing units, which works out to around $1,406.87 per unit.

The County of Sacramento Housing Authority will receive $1,420,898 for it's 1,035 public housing units, which works out to around $1,372.84 per unit.

The Sacramento Housing Authority will receive $2,534,660 for it's 1,753 public housing units, which works out to around $1,445.89 per unit.

The Santa Barbara Housing Authority will receive $667,3342 for it's 316 public housing units, which works out to around $2,111.84 per unit.

The Los Angeles Public Housing Authority will receive $14,023,929 for it's 7,223 public housing units, which works out to around $1,941.56 per unit.

The Housing Authority for the County of Los Angeles will receive $4,786,731 for it's public housing units, which works out to around $1,616.04 per unit.

The San Diego Housing Commission will receive $1,604,378 for it's 76 public housing units, which works out to around $2,111.84 per unit.

The Housing Authority for the County of San Diego will receive $145,051 for it's 121 public housing units, which works out to around $1,198.76 per unit.


A Sampling Of Other Public Housing Authorities Across The Nation


The Boston Housing Authority will receive $18,479,829 for it's 11,187 public housing units, which works out to around $1,651.90 per unit.

The Pittsburgh Housing Authority will receive $13,287,382 for it's 4,500 public housing units, which works out to around $2,952.75 per unit.

The New York City Housing Authority will receive $298,457,191 for it's 178,864 public housing units, which works out to around $1,668.62 per unit.

The District of Columbia (Washington D.C.) Housing Authority will receive $14,306,101 for it's 9,170 public housing units, which works out to around $1,560.09 per unit.

The Detroit Housing Commission will receive $8,257,798 for it's 4,852 public housing units, which works out to around $1,701.93 per unit.

The New Orleans Housing Authority will receive $15,121,375 for it's 5,293 public housing units, which works out to around $2,856.86 per unit.

The Jackson Housing Authority will receive $676,872 for it's 186 public housing units, which works out to around $3,639.09 per unit.

The Atlanta Housing Authority will receive $12,832,194 for it's 8,485 public housing units, which works out to around $1,512.33 per unit.

The Miami Dade Public Housing and Community Development will receive $10,919,128 for it's 9,610 public housing units, which works out to around $1,136.22 per unit.

The Chicago Housing Authority will receive $69,516,797 for it's 25,130 public housing units, which works out to around $2,766.28 per unit.

The Salt Lake Housing Authority will receive $649,775 for it's 626 public housing units, which works out to around $1,037.97 per unit.

Out of the above mentioned housing agencies the Atlanta HA, the Chicago HA, the D.C. HA, the Oakland HA, the Pittsburgh HA, the San Diego Housing Commission, and the HA of Santa Clara County, are all demonstration MTW housing authorities. It is not clear what they will spend their HUD capital funds on since the money goes into a huge slush fund that includes funding for Section 8 housing choice vouchers, and the MTWs can spend the money on such things as lawyers to evict poor families from their public housing units, or to hire outside legal counsel to shadow Inspector General staff, if they are concerned about being being audited.

Additionally, since the Berkeley Housing Authority has privatized and sold it's 75 public housing town homes to out-of-state billionaires Jorge M. Perez, and Stephen M. Ross of the Related Companies, and ownership of the public housing units were transferred to the billionaires on February 14, 2014, it is not clear what the BHA plans to spend the $112,344 in HUD capital funds on, that was granted to it on March 19, 2014.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com