Subsequent to years of federal oversight, the Housing Authority of New Orleans is healthy enough to go back to local management. That is a positive sign for the long-troubled agency, for the residents who depend on it for housing and for the community as a whole.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Education Secretary Shaun Donovan, who is exit the position soon, said handing the agency back over to the city is a critical step for the agencys future.
I truly believe New Orleans is as strong as it has ever been and now is the right time for the agency to come back at the ranch, Mr. Donovan said. That is a well-deserved compliment to Mayor Mitch Landrieu and his doling out.
The city wont directly run HANO, however it want fun a strong job in its oversight. For one thing, the mayor want appoint a majority of the stay that want manage the housing authority. Mayor Landrieu compared the new HANO stay to the track the Regional Transit Authority and the Aviation Stay are set up.
The statistical representation Mr. Donovan painted of HANO does be evidence for dramatic recuperation in the agency.
When HUD took management in 2002, it was delightful HANO 200 being -- other than six months --to transfer an apartment from one local to a new. The average time now is 31 being, which is better than the national average of 50 being. That is the case, even though the agency is serving 4,500 other people than it did 12 years ago.
Ponder approaching the human costs in exit an apartment uncomprehending for 200 being in a city that desperately needs affordable housing, Mr. Donovan said.
HANOs record was dreadful for years. The condition of apartments was poor, and the waiting time for a building block or a housing voucher was unacceptable.
In 2009, four years subsequent to Gale Katrina and the levee breaches, no residents had returned to the citys Big Four municipal housing developments -- B.W. Cooper, C.J. Peete, Lafitte and St. Bernard. Since then, the entire four have been redeveloped hooked on mixed-income communities: Marrero Commons, Harmony Oaks, Faubourg Lafitte and Columbia Parc.
Although HUD had been control HANO for seven years, naught really enhanced in anticipation of Mr. Donovan sent in consultant David Gilmore and a turnaround team in 2009.
Mr. Gilmores stewardship was transformative, and the community owes him a debt of thanks.
HANO was a complete mess when Mr. Gilmore, a turnaround expert who heads Gilmore, Keen LLC, took over. Not only was the agency doing a poor job of providing housing to low-income New Orleanians, it was reeling from major scandals.
Dwayne Muhammad, the former chief of HANOs Section 8 code, absent the agency in August 2009 and later pleaded guilty to one calculation of misusing federal funds. He was sentenced to eight months in a federal prison for using housing vouchers to pay rent on his Gentilly back at the ranch.
In September 2009, Elias Castellanos, the contractor who was managing HANOs finances, pleaded guilty to embezzlement. Authorities right to be heard he used the wealth he stole to buy a Lamborghini Gallardo, a Ferrari F430, a Porsche 911 and two Mercedes-Benzes.
Mr. Gilmore arrived that November to begin his work. He abruptly put policies and procedures in place to progress ethical oversight and financial gearshift, beef up the rod and diminish waste. He didnt continually please local advocates, however he allowed people to have a express. That hadnt been the case sooner than he arrived.
As he late in April, he emphasized that it is important for HANO to be skilled to function without help and achieve decisions that are greatest for residents.
A March report to HUD by Mr. Gilmores firm said: We came now to be sold for stability and competence back to an organization that has lacked both for several years. That goal has been accomplished. HANO bottle now conceitedly be responsible for its place among the larger community of municipal housing authorities the entire across the nation that suit their mandates and serve their constituencies consistently, capably and compassionately. Its reputation has been restored.
That seemed unlikely not long ago. The strategic now is to keep HANO on track and to continue the reforms Mr. Gilmore and his team put in place.
For the sake of residents who depend on HANO, its crucial to ensure that the overhaul of the agency is a lasting one.
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