WHA Welcomes Director
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Hoping for a change of pace, the new executive director of the Warsaw Housing Authority completed her first day on the job Monday by attending her first meeting with the agency's board of commissioners.
Laura Kaufman currently resides in North Manchester, but taking a job in Warsaw returns her to her roots. Kaufman is a 1988 graduate of Warsaw Community High School; holds a bachelor's degree in business from the University of Maryland, where she graduated magna cum laude; and also is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis.
A five-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, Kaufman was an attorney in a private practice in Bluffton before moving to North Manchester.
She and her husband, Kurt, and sons, Nick and Jake, soon plan to move to the Warsaw area.
Kaufman was joined at the meeting by her new program manager, Kim Baney, who has been with the agency for about three months.
Former WHA executive director Angie Shirk turned in her resignation at the April board meeting and worked her last full-time day May 12. She stayed with the agency on a part-time basis until the new director was hired and now hopes to spend more time with her family. Former program director Chris Cessna also recently resigned. Baney took over Cessna's position full-time a week ago.
In regular business, the board discussed the slow movement of the Section 8 certificate clients to the voucher program.
Baney said that switching from the certificate program, which is being discontinued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, isn't mandatory until October. At that time, she said, the board can expect to see greater movement in client numbers from one program to the other.
Also, June is the last month for which rents will be paid for clients living at Glen Terrace Apartments. Due to problems with the apartment complex owners not making necessary repairs for which they were cited and fined by the city of Warsaw, the WHA will not support clients living there.
Baney said that some of the clients living at Glen Terrace are seeking or have located suitable housing, some are planning to leave the area and, therefore, the program, but some are just biding their time.
"There are some who said they aren't moving until the police make them," Baney said.
As of mid-June, clients still living at Glen Terrace will receive no further rental assistance from the WHA.
The next meeting of the WHA board of commissioners is at 5:15 p.m. June 26. The board usually meets the fourth Monday of each month, but May's meeting was postponed until Monday due to a lack of quorum.
Members of the WHA board are Bob Kline, Sherri Ruggier-Milton, Sue Charlton, Tom Lemon and Dennis Cultice. Bill Rhoades is the city council representative and nonvoting member of the board. [[In-content Ad]]
Hoping for a change of pace, the new executive director of the Warsaw Housing Authority completed her first day on the job Monday by attending her first meeting with the agency's board of commissioners.
Laura Kaufman currently resides in North Manchester, but taking a job in Warsaw returns her to her roots. Kaufman is a 1988 graduate of Warsaw Community High School; holds a bachelor's degree in business from the University of Maryland, where she graduated magna cum laude; and also is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis.
A five-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, Kaufman was an attorney in a private practice in Bluffton before moving to North Manchester.
She and her husband, Kurt, and sons, Nick and Jake, soon plan to move to the Warsaw area.
Kaufman was joined at the meeting by her new program manager, Kim Baney, who has been with the agency for about three months.
Former WHA executive director Angie Shirk turned in her resignation at the April board meeting and worked her last full-time day May 12. She stayed with the agency on a part-time basis until the new director was hired and now hopes to spend more time with her family. Former program director Chris Cessna also recently resigned. Baney took over Cessna's position full-time a week ago.
In regular business, the board discussed the slow movement of the Section 8 certificate clients to the voucher program.
Baney said that switching from the certificate program, which is being discontinued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, isn't mandatory until October. At that time, she said, the board can expect to see greater movement in client numbers from one program to the other.
Also, June is the last month for which rents will be paid for clients living at Glen Terrace Apartments. Due to problems with the apartment complex owners not making necessary repairs for which they were cited and fined by the city of Warsaw, the WHA will not support clients living there.
Baney said that some of the clients living at Glen Terrace are seeking or have located suitable housing, some are planning to leave the area and, therefore, the program, but some are just biding their time.
"There are some who said they aren't moving until the police make them," Baney said.
As of mid-June, clients still living at Glen Terrace will receive no further rental assistance from the WHA.
The next meeting of the WHA board of commissioners is at 5:15 p.m. June 26. The board usually meets the fourth Monday of each month, but May's meeting was postponed until Monday due to a lack of quorum.
Members of the WHA board are Bob Kline, Sherri Ruggier-Milton, Sue Charlton, Tom Lemon and Dennis Cultice. Bill Rhoades is the city council representative and nonvoting member of the board. [[In-content Ad]]