Feds Ask Housing Authority To Develop 5-Year Plan
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
New requirements have Warsaw Housing Authority staff putting together a five-year plan, establishing a resident advisory council and putting a tenant on the board.
WHA executive director Laura Kaufman told the board of commissioners Monday that the Department of Housing and Urban Development is asking housing authorities to set up five-year plans to set goals for the agencies, with annual plans to determine how well the goals are being completed.
In conjunction with this change, WHA also must meet with a resident advisory council to receive input as to how well it is serving its clients. The first advisory council meeting took place Monday afternoon at Courts of Colfax, where 21 people attended.
Kaufman said she and her staff received no complaints. "Everybody's pretty happy," she said.
Another such meeting is planned for next Monday evening for clients who are single mothers. The meeting will be at Christ Covenant Church and babysitting will be provided.
Thereafter, the resident advisory board would be required to meet annually.
Also, the HUD requirements call for a tenant to be added to the WHA board. Kaufman said a new slot doesn't need to be created, but the next opening would need to be filled by a WHA client/tenant. However, board members voted to establish a new seat for the incoming member, since that person could change from time to time with turnover in clientele. The bylaws will be amended at the November meeting and a list of possible candidates will be submitted to Mayor Ernie Wiggins, who makes the appointments to the board.
The tenant member would be given the opportunity to offer input and would have full voting privileges.
In other business, the WHA ended fiscal year 2000 on Sept. 30 with a $72,135.61 HUD surplus. Rather than paying back the overpayment, Kaufman said, HUD will likely recoup that money by withholding payments in May or June.
The overpayment resulted because of the change in the number of people on the program. Kaufman said the agency loses four to five clients per month for various reasons and WHA is slowly starting to build its clientele back.
"We have trouble getting people on the program as fast as we would like to because the people have trouble finding adequate housing," Kaufman said.
Currently, 36 families have been given approval to come onto the housing assistance program and are searching for housing; 137 of the 175 slots allotted in Warsaw are filled.
Progress continues in the Warsaw and Pierceton owner-occupied rehabilitation programs, with three homes completed in each town. Kaufman anticipates there will be enough grant money to rehabilitate about five more homes in Warsaw. In an effort to get the word out to more homeowners, a youth group from Bethany Fellowship Church recently spent a Saturday distributing fliers explaining the program.
The housing rehabilitation provides necessary updates to low-income homeowners whose houses are in disrepair. For more information on the program, residents can call 269-7641.
The WHA board of commissioners meets at 5:15 p.m. the fourth Monday of each month in the offices of Lemon, Armey, Hearn & Leininger, Warsaw. Board members are Bob Kline, Sherri Ruggier-Milton, Sue Charlton, Tom Lemon and Dennis Cultice. Bill Rhoades, city council representative to the board, is a nonvoting member. [[In-content Ad]]
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New requirements have Warsaw Housing Authority staff putting together a five-year plan, establishing a resident advisory council and putting a tenant on the board.
WHA executive director Laura Kaufman told the board of commissioners Monday that the Department of Housing and Urban Development is asking housing authorities to set up five-year plans to set goals for the agencies, with annual plans to determine how well the goals are being completed.
In conjunction with this change, WHA also must meet with a resident advisory council to receive input as to how well it is serving its clients. The first advisory council meeting took place Monday afternoon at Courts of Colfax, where 21 people attended.
Kaufman said she and her staff received no complaints. "Everybody's pretty happy," she said.
Another such meeting is planned for next Monday evening for clients who are single mothers. The meeting will be at Christ Covenant Church and babysitting will be provided.
Thereafter, the resident advisory board would be required to meet annually.
Also, the HUD requirements call for a tenant to be added to the WHA board. Kaufman said a new slot doesn't need to be created, but the next opening would need to be filled by a WHA client/tenant. However, board members voted to establish a new seat for the incoming member, since that person could change from time to time with turnover in clientele. The bylaws will be amended at the November meeting and a list of possible candidates will be submitted to Mayor Ernie Wiggins, who makes the appointments to the board.
The tenant member would be given the opportunity to offer input and would have full voting privileges.
In other business, the WHA ended fiscal year 2000 on Sept. 30 with a $72,135.61 HUD surplus. Rather than paying back the overpayment, Kaufman said, HUD will likely recoup that money by withholding payments in May or June.
The overpayment resulted because of the change in the number of people on the program. Kaufman said the agency loses four to five clients per month for various reasons and WHA is slowly starting to build its clientele back.
"We have trouble getting people on the program as fast as we would like to because the people have trouble finding adequate housing," Kaufman said.
Currently, 36 families have been given approval to come onto the housing assistance program and are searching for housing; 137 of the 175 slots allotted in Warsaw are filled.
Progress continues in the Warsaw and Pierceton owner-occupied rehabilitation programs, with three homes completed in each town. Kaufman anticipates there will be enough grant money to rehabilitate about five more homes in Warsaw. In an effort to get the word out to more homeowners, a youth group from Bethany Fellowship Church recently spent a Saturday distributing fliers explaining the program.
The housing rehabilitation provides necessary updates to low-income homeowners whose houses are in disrepair. For more information on the program, residents can call 269-7641.
The WHA board of commissioners meets at 5:15 p.m. the fourth Monday of each month in the offices of Lemon, Armey, Hearn & Leininger, Warsaw. Board members are Bob Kline, Sherri Ruggier-Milton, Sue Charlton, Tom Lemon and Dennis Cultice. Bill Rhoades, city council representative to the board, is a nonvoting member. [[In-content Ad]]