Fayetteville Housing Authority board chairwoman addresses City Council

FAYETTEVILLE -- The city's Housing Authority is getting to a more stable place, its board chairwoman told the City Council on Tuesday.

Staffing vacancies and a lack of revenue from tenants because of the covid-19 pandemic have presented challenges to the authority's operation, Board Chairwoman Melissa Terry said. The board recently enlisted the help of third-party consultants to stabilize the organization and formed committees to address staffing, she said.

Council member Sonia Gutiérrez Harvey said she had previous conversations with Terry about what's been going on with the authority and thought it would be helpful for the rest of the council to hear. She suggested quarterly briefings from Terry, and said she planned to meet regularly with Terry herself. The council asked no questions Tuesday.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is investigating the authority over compliance with federal rules and regulations. It made records requests pertaining particularly to money the authority's nonprofit, FHA Development, owes to the regular authority.

The board membership for FHA Development is the same as the regular authority's board except one member. FHA Development has one employee, and regular authority staff keep track of time they spend working on nonprofit matters.

The board had a plan a few years ago to use the nonprofit to purchase and renovate number of multifamily properties. Since then, it has relinquished ownership of two apartment complexes, is in the process of selling two more, and has one on the market.

At the beginning of the month, FHA Development owed the regular authority either about $79,000 or about $127,000. The amount depends on if HUD awards the development nonprofit money from a federal grant to move residents from public housing complex Hillcrest Towers to a property the nonprofit bought, the former Hi-Way Inn & Motel, while emergency renovations were being done at the towers in 2019.

The regular authority has had five leaders in the past three years. The board fired former Executive Director Deniece Smiley in 2018 and fired her replacement, Angela Belford, in March. Two interim directors followed who resigned, citing board conduct as their reason for leaving. Audra Butler took over as interim director Sept. 16.

Several board meetings have lasted hours long, with exchanges getting sometimes heated among board members, staff and members of the public.

The agency had seen a number of staff vacancies before the most recent resignations, Terry told the council.

"It's been really stressful for staff to operate with that many holes in there," she said. "I think part of what we have seen expressed is that frustration, and some of the tension that causes, especially with a major leadership transition."

The board hired Sheila Posey with OnPoint Solutions to interview staff members and Gerald Turner with HEAL Collective to help form an organization stabilization plan, Terry said. It also has committees established searching for a permanent executive director and to address staffing vacancies, she said.

The development nonprofit is eligible to receive about $210,000 in rent in arrears from tenants through the Emergency Rental Assistance program being administered through Washington County, Terry said. The board prioritized collecting the rent, starting with tenants most at risk of eviction, she said.

Terry said many tenants could not pay rent once the pandemic hit.

"I appreciate everybody just holding the line and letting us work some of this out," she told the council.

Mayor Lioneld Jordan said after the presentation any information the city administration received about the authority has been sent to the council. The authority's role is to ensure low-income and disabled residents are provided proper housing, he said.

"I want to be sure that gets done," Jordan said.

The City Council can appoint or remove members of the regular Housing Authority board but does not have any power over the operation and management of the authority, according to City Attorney Kit Williams.