Editorial: HUD report challenges new board

Thursday, Feb. 12, 2004 | 9:07 a.m.

Responding to all of the bad news emanating from the Las Vegas Housing Authority, Mayor Oscar Goodman last June replaced four of the five members of the authority's board. The bad news included growing unrest among the nearly 17,000 people who live in the nearly 7,000 subsidized apartments administered by the authority, and controversy over the management of the authority's $65 million budget. The new board appointees, along with the fifth member, who has served for less than two years, now face one of their biggest challenges. A 150-page report completed last week by the Housing and Urban Development Department outlines innumerable past deficiencies that need the attention of a board committed to change.

Among the assertions in the HUD report is that the Housing Authority committed $2.9 million for repairing or replacing public housing -- without first obtaining HUD approval. Now the federal agency is saying it wants the money back if the Housing Authority cannot prove that the money was properly used. According to the authority's executive director, the money in question can all be accounted for properly through bank records. He says the money is on account and was being saved for future housing needs. The board will need to see that the records are assembled and that they are presented to HUD, along with an explanation that will be accepted. If this cannot be done, the board must take strong action against those responsible for mishandling this amount of money.

Also cited in the federal report is the deplorable condition of much of the housing under the authority's supervision. After two weeks of review, inspectors from HUD reported that 40 percent of the housing they checked was deficient. The report says the authority has no master plan for maintaining its units. Inspectors also found a cavalier attitude toward budgeting. They said $800,000 that had been set aside for property improvements was instead spent on a security contract. Additionally, the report said the authority has been negligent over the years in replacing housing, resulting in the net loss of 783 family units.

The new board president, Bobby Gronauer, accurately points out that the HUD report was commissioned at the time of Goodman's action and mostly reflects the previous management. Just this once, that explanation works. How the new board deals with the report's findings will determine whether there is a new era for the Housing Authority, or just new faces.