Fayetteville Housing Authority board tours properties

Deniece Smiley (center), Fayetteville Housing Authority director, leads a tour Friday of Willow Heights, a property that the authority directs, for the organization’s board of directors and members of the public in Fayetteville. The board this year has to come up with a capital improvements plan, per U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations.
Deniece Smiley (center), Fayetteville Housing Authority director, leads a tour Friday of Willow Heights, a property that the authority directs, for the organization’s board of directors and members of the public in Fayetteville. The board this year has to come up with a capital improvements plan, per U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations.

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Housing Authority board got a firsthand look Friday at two of its properties to help members create a capital expenditure plan.

The authority operates four properties: Willow Heights, 10 S. Willow Ave.; Lewis Plaza, 401 S. Lewis Ave.; Hillcrest Towers, 1 N. School Ave.; and Morgan Manor, 324 E. 12th Place. Maintenance at the first three properties comes strictly from federal dollars, while Morgan Manor is under a system called the Rental Assistance Demonstration program, which combines public and private equity.

By the numbers

Capital money awarded to Fayetteville Housing Authority

2017: $184,391

2016: $239,360

2015: $265,125

2014: $264,727

2013: $279,858

2012: $252,177

2011: $291,303

2010: $331,165

2009: $331,842

2008: $357,929

Source: Fayetteville Housing Authority

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The authority has to turn in an updated five-year capital expenditures plan in June, per U.S. Housing and Urban Development regulations. The board revisits the plan annually, although the available money for the next fiscal year hasn't come in yet, Executive Director Deniece Smiley said.

An average of $246,600 annually has come from the federal government over the past five years to pay for basic maintenance and repairs at the Housing Authority's properties. Bigger projects, such as replacing the sewer lines at Hillcrest Towers, require an emergency federal grant.

The board, along with members of the public, toured Willow Heights and Lewis Plaza to get an idea of what to prioritize. Commissioner Melissa Terry requested the tour.

At Willow Heights, the group saw a vacant unit and walked around outside.

David Rentsch, who has lived there for five years, said parking, flooding and the many stairs on the hilly terrain were his main issues. His wife is about to have surgery and will have to stay upstairs in their apartment while she recovers, Rentsch said. The bedrooms and bathroom at all of the units are on the second floor.

"Trying to get her downstairs to eat dinner and everything, that's going to be a chore," he said. "That was one of the biggest things we've had since we first moved here -- why is the bathroom upstairs?"

The board also looked at two empty units at Lewis Plaza. Bailey Johnson and Elinetta Sanchez, who live next door to each other, said the property has safety and security issues and often needs repair.

Sanchez said she's waited a year to get the drain on her clothes washer fixed.

"It's been like that the whole time," she said.

Commissioner Debra Humphrey, a board member who attended her first meeting last week, said the resident experience was most important to her. Humphrey lives at Hillcrest and serves as the resident representative on the board. She had never seen Willow Heights or Lewis Plaza.

One problem at one building probably means more problems at others, Humphrey said. All of the authority's properties were built in the early 1970s.

"I didn't expect to see them that dilapidated," Humphrey said.

photo

Deniece Smiley (right) shows the group the inside of a vacant unit at Willow Heights.

NW News on 03/31/2018

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