City to take over housing authority

The city of North Las Vegas soon will take over management of the North Las Vegas Housing Authority in a last-ditch effort to right the failing agency that provides housing to the poor, officials said.

The housing authority's board on Wednesday decided to move forward with a plan that will place the city at the helm of the agency that has faced numerous financial and administrative problems in recent years.

Don England, the agency's embattled CEO, submitted his resignation last month effective as soon as his replacement can be found. The board wants the city to assume his role, at least temporarily.

"The writing is on the wall regarding ... the future of the housing authority," said Stephanie Smith, a board member who also sits on the City Council.

The plan must first be approved by the City Council. But that shouldn't be a problem, given that four of the five members of the housing authority board also are on the City Council, an arrangement many have criticized.

"You have housing authority board members who will now vote as City Council members, in essence taking over their own board," said Councilwoman Shari Buck, the only council member who doesn't also sit on the housing authority board and who has repeatedly criticized the board's makeup.

"I just don't have a lot of confidence in the housing authority board."

Officials also agree that the city will have to continue helping the housing authority financially.

"I think the housing authority will need some infusion of monies from the city in order to get in a more solid financial situation," City Manager Gregory Rose said Thursday.

Last month, the city approved a $100,000, unsecured, interest-free loan to the housing authority to help relocate 21 families who were living in the crumbling Casa Rosa public housing complex.

The city has ordered the housing authority to either repair or demolish many of its decades-old family units because they are unsafe. The agency decided to pursue demolition of the Casa Rosa complex near Las Vegas Boulevard and Owens Avenue, but doesn't have the estimated $1.9 million necessary to do so.

A first priority upon the city's assuming control of the housing authority will be dealing with Casa Rosa, Rose said.

He said he couldn't yet estimate how much money or staff time the city will have to invest in the agency, and wasn't yet sure whether any of the agency's remaining 15 employees will be laid off.

"I won't have a good sense about what the need is until we go in and do an initial assessment," Rose said.

The housing authority will draw up a contract for the city to take over management.

The goal, officials said, is to get the housing authority on stable enough ground that the Las Vegas Housing Authority will agree to take over the smaller agency's operations. The Las Vegas agency already assumed management of North Las Vegas's 220 public housing units after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said they were being incompetently managed.

The North Las Vegas Housing Authority, with a budget of about $13 million, is the smallest of the valley's three public housing agencies, which include the Las Vegas and Clark County housing authorities.

The Las Vegas agency isn't willing to take over completely until the North Las Vegas agency's financial problems are resolved, said Carl Rowe, director of the Las Vegas Housing Authority.

Buck said the city shouldn't.

"The city cannot be in a situation where we're liable for housing authority mistakes," she said.

But HUD, which largely funds housing authorities and has repeatedly criticized North Las Vegas Housing Authority management, welcomed a city's takeover.

"It's the kind of action we've been asking them to take," said Larry Bush, a HUD spokesman.

North Las Vegas City Councilman William Robinson, who chairs the housing authority board, was absent from Wednesday's meeting and could not be reached on Thursday for comment. The remaining four board members, including North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon, unanimously voted to pursue city management of the housing authority.

Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.