Hickory vote signals end for troubled public housing agency

After hearing emotional pleas from tenants and civic leaders, the Hickory City Council voted Tuesday to begin disbanding the city’s public housing agency.

Council unanimously approved a proposal that would transfer the Hickory Public Housing Authority’s duties to another organization. The board did not set a firm timetable but said a smooth transfer would likely take 90 to 120 days.

City officials tried to dispel fears from public housing tenants afraid they will be displaced from their homes, saying the change would not reduce services.

“The council’s sole objective is to do what is in the best interest of the residents of public housing,” Mayor Rudy Wright said.

But some residents who packed the meeting chamber remained skeptical.

“Where are we supposed to go?” asked Elaine Johnson, a public housing tenant. “We are poor people, but we are still human. Our future is laying in your hands.”

City Council’s vote follows a series of Observer reports detailing accusations that Housing Authority Executive Director Alanda Richardson misused public money to buy administrators and other officials iPads, pocketbooks, new office furniture, cell phones and other gifts. Former workers also accuse Richardson of neglecting tenants’ allegations that an agency worker offered to pay their rent in exchange for sexual favors.

Richardson has denied any wrongdoing.

However, an October review from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, which helps oversee public housing agencies nationwide, found unexplained bank accounts and no evidence that the board charged with overseeing the agency could monitor its finances.

In 2012, federal inspectors sanctioned the Hickory Public Housing Authority for awarding contracts to family members and misspending more than $500,000.

The latest review found that agency officials haven’t done anything to prevent abuses from happening again.

Housing Authority officials refute many of HUD’s findings, but Wright said the continuing problems left city leaders with no choice but to make a dramatic change.

“We have a rift between HUD and the Housing Authority,” Wright said. “Maybe with the developments of the last few days, we have a rift between the city and the Housing Authority. It’s too many rifts.”

The Housing Authority staunchly opposes the move.

Chairman Sidney Myles last week sent City Council members and the federal government a letter suggesting racism has played a role in the council’s plans. Some city officials and white business owners opposed the agency’s proposal to build new units along a commercial strip close to downtown, his letter said.

On Tuesday, Myles said the Housing Authority had collected more than 180 petition signatures urging the city to keep the agency intact. He urged City Council to take into account the opinions from public housing tenants.

Under the existing arrangement, City Council has the power to abolish the housing agency and create a new city department. The mayor can appoint the Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners, which sets policy and oversees the executive director.

Transferring operations could mean the city will have no direct control of an organization that would control a $5 million annual budget and manage housing for hundreds of families and individuals.

More than 60 people crowded into Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Nearly a dozen speakers appeared split over the issue.

“It is past time to get rid of that board and the executive director,” said Larry Pope, a former Housing Authority commissioner.

Glenn Pinckney, a former Housing Authority employee, said the agency’s management problems prevented some tenants from improving their lives and achieving self-sufficiency.

“The best interest of the residents was not a concern” to Richardson or the board, Pinckney said.

But public housing tenants who spoke defended the agency. They said Richardson had been unfairly blamed for the problems.

This story was originally published January 6, 2016 at 1:26 AM with the headline "Hickory vote signals end for troubled public housing agency."