While many long-time residents of Hoboken have trouble finding affordable housing in the city, a large number of the people on the waiting list for apartments in Hoboken’s subsidized housing are Jersey City residents, announced Acting Housing Authority Executive Director Robert DiVincent last week.
DiVincent took over the Hoboken Housing Authority (HHA) on an interim basis last month after former director Troy Washington was hired to oversee the Jersey City Housing Authority. After Washington left, DiVincent began looking at HHA records. He announced a week ago Friday that, “Right now the Hoboken Housing Authority is not on sound financial footing.”
DiVincent said the HHA is running $1.3 million deficit and is in jeopardy on falling deeper in debt unless immediate corrective action is taken.
The Hoboken Housing Authority (HHA) oversees the city’s approximately 1,383 federally subsidized units of low-income housing, primarily in the southwest part of the city. The HHA answers to the federal department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and is not city-run, but the City Council, mayor and state appoint the seven unpaid commissioners to the housing board. The board hires a paid executive director, who oversees the day-to-day operations of the Housing Authority.
In December, Washington submitted his letter of resignation. While the board conducts a national search for a new director, DiVincent is earning $6,000 per month, not to exceed $72,000, for his work in Hoboken.
In the past week, DiVincent and officials from the Housing Authority released documentation that directly questioned Washington’s financial responsibility.
The most relevant documents are an internal 2003 fiscal year audit, which shows millions in yet unaccounted overexpenditures, as well as an assessment report from HUD that labels Hoboken as “financially substandard,” and a Section 8 voucher waiting list with no Hoboken names on it.
Multiple calls were placed to Washington for comment, and they were not returned. In fact, Washington has not returned calls from the media or answered questions about his hiring in Jersey City for the last two months.
DiVincent said last week that Washington “has been unresponsive” when he has attempted to contact Washington for records.
“I’ve called several times,” said DiVincent, “but my calls haven’t been returned.”
Spencer Miller, the HHA’s attorney, who also has a contract with the Jersey City Housing Authority, did not return a phone call for this story by press time.
No Hoboken names on list
Currently there are two waiting lists to get into subsidized housing in Hoboken.
One is a list to get a unit in the actual projects. This list has been closed for several years but the majority of the people on the list are not from Hoboken, with most being from Jersey City, said DiVincent.
Even more surprising, said DiVincent, is the second list, the Section 8 voucher list; there is not a single Hoboken name on it. Housing choice vouchers allow very low-income families to choose and lease affordable privately-owned rental housing. The families pay a percentage of their income and the government subsidizes the rest. The list for these vouchers is controlled be the local housing authority.
According to HHA officials, there are nearly 200 names on the Section 8 list.
“There is not a single person from Hoboken on that list,” said DiVincent. “There are people from Jersey City, Union City, North Bergen, even people from Florida – seemingly everywhere in the world but Hoboken.” The vast majority are from Jersey City.
DiVincent also said that it is his understanding that Washington personally controlled the list, but he has not yet been able to recover any documentation about when the last time it was opened or how these names were put on the list.
He said that in West New York and most every other Housing Authority in the state, it’s accepted practice to give priority to residents of that town.
“First and foremost, a housing authority is there to serve the residents of the town in which it’s located,” said DiVincent. “Therefore, it only makes sense that they are given the first shot at open apartments.”
At an emergency meeting of the Housing Authority held on Friday, Feb. 13, the board voted to reopen the Section 8 list to Hoboken residents and will from this point on will give preference to Hoboken residents.
Fourth Ward Councilman Christopher Campos, who is also a HHA commissioner, said that in a town like Hoboken where affordable housing is become harder and harder to find, local residents should have the first choice of vouchers and apartments.
“Nearly everyday I talk to someone who needs a home or to someone that has to move out of their hometown because they can’t find an apartment that they can afford,” said Campos. “To me it’s unbelievable that there’s not a single Hoboken name on the Section 8 list.”
President Ruben Ramos, who is a former HHA commissioner, said that Washington held the list. “Everyone knows that [Washington] tightly controlled that list,” he charged.
‘Substandard financial’ authority
An assessment report from the “Public Housing Assessment System” of the federal department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has designated the HHA as a “substandard financial” authority. Out of 100 points, Hoboken scored a 62, with 60 being the cut-off for a troubled agency.
While a 60 is passing, the less-than-stellar score means the HHA is subject to additional HUD oversight and will have to complete a corrective action plan.
The PHAS is designed by HUD as a comprehensive oversight tool that measures all housing authorities based on uniform standards.
The assessment is divided into several categories which include data on physical conditions, financial conditions and management operations. On the financial condition section, Hoboken scored a five out of 30, which is a failing score in that category.
“In all my years in public housing, I’ve never even heard of any authority receiving a score as low as a five,” said DiVincent about the financial component. “It probably has something the do with the fact that in one year the HHA went from having a nearly $1 million surplus to a $1.3 million deficit. That’s a pretty big swing.”
He added that if spending isn’t curtailed and the HHA continues on “the same trajectory,” the deficit would be over $3 million next year.
Unaccounted-for spending
According to the 2003 fiscal year internal audit, there are numerous contract and salary line items that have been overspent and have not been approved by the HHA’s board of commissioners.
One of the most glaring, according to DiVincent, is that the HHA has paid $1 million to a security firm that only holds a $600,000 contract. DiVincent said that he has not yet found any records of any change orders in regards to the security contract.
He added according to the terms of the original contract, any money over the contracted amount had to be approved by the Board of Commissioners. It also said that change orders would have been capped at 20 percent of the total contract. The firm also currently has a contract with Jersey City for security services.
“We have never approved any change orders [for the security contract],” said HHA Commissioner Perry Belfiore. “We are responsible for approving any overspending, but that didn’t happen here. He decided to spend that money unilaterally.”
Also, according to DiVincent, the “administrative salary” line-item was overspent by nearly a $1 million. He added that at this point in his due diligence, he has found no record that increases in salaries were approved by the board of commissioners, the body charged with the responsibility of setting salaries.
Another area of concern is the authority’s computer software contract. He said that he can’t find the 2003 contract, but the 2001 computer software contract was $18,000. According to DiVincent, the HHA paid $289,000 to the contractor in fiscal 2003. DiVincent said that in West New York, an authority of similar size, they spend around $10,000 per year for a similar service.
He added at this point he has not found any documentation that approved that spending.
According to HHA Chairman Angel Alicea, it is his belief that Washington was transferring money from the HHA capital improvements fund to cover alleged unaccounted for increases in spending.
“Mr. Washington kept us in the dark the entire time,” said HHA Chairman Angel Alicea. He said that for Washington’s last two months in Hoboken, he did not return any of his phone calls about contracts and did not furnish records about contracts when asked.
“I’m the chairman of the Housing Authority and he doesn’t even return my phone calls and has never once produced documents that I asked for,” said Alicea.
DiVincent said his preliminary findings point to a breakdown in the “system of checks and balances.” Washington had reputation and a domineering manager whom all decisions had to go through. Some said, though, that this was a way to avoid being part of City Hall politics.
Still, DiVincent said, “When only one person is making all the decisions, it’s easy for a small mistake to become a very big one.”
What’s next
DiVincent said that the HHA is teetering perilously close to being labeled a “troubled agency” and being taking over by HUD.
“It’s bad,” DiVincent said, “but I believe that we caught it early enough that we can quickly come up with a corrective action plan and get back on track.”
He said right now, he is in the process of assessing the situation and making priorities.
“We have roofs that leak, elevators that don’t work and a broken back-up boiler,” he said. “We have to deal with those things first.”
DiVincent said that the HHA will apply to HUD to take part in a bond
Leveraging Program. In that program, a number of authorities from around the state go out to bond and then split the loan. He said that he hopes Hoboken can receive $8 million, but would happy with $6 million. He said that would go a long way to helping the HHA’s fiscal health.
DiVincent said that “bonus” items like the on-hold plans for a community center may be in jeopardy. Residents of the projects do use a nearby center built by a non-profit development group that was started by All Saints’ Church, though.
“[The community center] is not dead, and still could happen,” DiVincent said. “But we have other issues to deal with first.”