Executive Director Message.

The fall season always reminds me of new beginnings; children beginning the new school year, the leaves beginning to turn colors. At this time, I believe that NHA is beginning to turn the corner on making real change in the lives of our residents and the City as a whole. We have recently received good news about two milestones that have been passed. The first milestone is that NHA has achieved stop-loss. This means that the NHA is only going to lose $440,000 a year in our public housing operating subsidy. This is great news because if we never achieved stop loss we would have lost $8.8 million a year.

Many people thought we could not do achieve stop-loss much less in the first year, but we did it. It hasn’t been easy, but real change never is. There was so much that had to be done to meet this standard of compliance. This wasn’t an easy test for our agency. This was a real test that many other housing authorities may not pass.

There was no one thing that made us pass, but a combination of new financial and management systems, site-based budgets, extensive training of property managers, proper staffing levels, out sourcing of certain functions, and the wide decentralization of many other functions which all contributed to our success.

Passing this evaluation shows that we can do what no one thought is possible. I want to do that again by having the NHA reach high-achiever status.
We will certainly get off the troubled list and we will pass SEMAP and PHAS. But at the end of the day, I want the NHA to build and maintain communities to the highest level. I want us to build more affordable housing. I want us to achieve our mission. These things will only be possible if we work together with our employees, our residents, and our community partners. Having stopped our losses gives us more resources to dedicate to achieving this mission.

The second milestone is that NHA has received approval for the demolition of Baxter Terrace and Felix Fuld. This means that we may now begin the process of relocation and demolition. This is a process and you won’t see demolition happen overnight. Relocation is often a difficult process, but necessary to rebuilding these communities. I know that some may fear what changes will take place, but as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “all progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.”

Speaking of problems, I’ve been asked what impact the bail outs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may have on NHA. A few impacts are clear, development is now harder; low income tax credits are worth less; and we still need more affordable housing. Our structural problems still remain. We have a backlog of $500 million in capital needs, while we only get $17 million a year. Our rental income is capped by law and our subsidy to offset that rent is under paid. The cost of utilities and insurance are up, so deficits remain, while demand for affordable housing is strong. But these are the problems that we will face together as we achieve our vision of healthy affordable housing communities.

 

Sincerely,

Keith D. Kinard, Executive Director, NHA