Housing chief stressed

Don England hasn't been feeling so great lately.

The 69-year-old CEO of the North Las Vegas Housing Authority recently was diagnosed with Bell's palsy -- a sudden paralysis of the facial nerve that causes weakened or paralyzed muscles on one side of the face.

For him, stress makes the condition worse. And he's been under a lot of stress lately.

"When I'm not here, it doesn't hurt as much," England said on Monday at his North Las Vegas office. "The stress is really getting to me."

England has drawn stinging criticism in recent weeks for his handling of problems at the Casa Rosa public housing complex for poor families. Long-standing substandard conditions at the complex were detailed in a North Las Vegas building inspector's report in late October.

Personal health concerns, aggravated by the controversy, led to his decision to resign from his $117,000-a-year-job at the troubled housing authority, he said, effective as soon as his replacement can be found, or April 1, whichever comes first.

England's letter of resignation was dated Nov. 20, less than two weeks after the Review-Journal first reported about conditions at Casa Rosa, where families had long lived with failing stairways, rotting second-story landings, mold, leaks and wiring problems.

The city of North Las Vegas ordered the housing authority to either repair or demolish many of its decades-old family units and relocate some of the residents for their safety.

Once the news broke, officials, residents and England himself began pointing fingers in every direction.

Residents said agency managers had long ignored their complaints and pleas for repairs.

Others blamed housing authority board members, most of whom also serve on the North Las Vegas City Council, for either not knowing about or closing their eyes to long-term problems there.

England blamed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for cutting funding to housing authorities, leaving him no choice but to cut back on maintenance. HUD has slashed funding to housing authorities nationwide in recent years.

"You just bend until you don't have any more to spend, and then you stop," he said in early November.

But much of the blame fell squarely on England's shoulders.

HUD has repeatedly said inadequate management at the agency caused its myriad problems in recent years.

One housing authority board member said administrators had long been "masking" Casa Rosa's problems.

England said he feels like a scapegoat.

"It's life," he said. "Everybody needs a fall guy."

He also said he was "blindsided" by the inspector's report, and had no idea conditions at Casa Rosa were so bad.

"I knew there were a lot of problems, but I never thought it was unsafe," he said. "I walk the properties. I check the stairwells. It seemed fine to me."

Residents have said their repeated requests for repairs went ignored, sometimes for years.

The conditions came to light only after the Las Vegas Housing Authority, which recently took over management of North Las Vegas's properties, contacted the city about the "alarming" conditions there.

England said he was dumbfounded.

"I don't want residents to live that way," he said.

Despite the controversy, England said nobody forced or encouraged him to resign.

"But I can read the tea leaves," he said.

A former Air Force captain, England left a job in the avionics industry in 1999 to head the North Las Vegas Housing Authority.

He had previously spent 12 years working for housing authorities in Kansas City, Atlanta, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and New Orleans. He missed working in public housing.

"I wanted to serve people," he said. "My pleasure comes from seeing people get a helping hand."

The North Las Vegas agency was already in trouble when England inherited it, he said.

"We were broke," he said. "We've been living hand-to-mouth for nine years."

Shrinking funding from HUD has only made matters worse, creating a perfect storm for failure, he said.

"Larger housing authorities can weather the storm," he said. "But an agency this size doesn't have any extra money."

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, charged with helping provide affordable housing to the poor.

In addition to being responsible for 220 public housing units, the North Las Vegas agency oversees about 1,400 Section 8 housing vouchers, which can be used to rent housing. It also has about 200 units of affordable housing not subsidized by the federal government.

In addition to Casa Rosa, England has faced numerous problems at the agency in recent years:

• Construction was halted in 2004 on the agency's Desert Mesa project, which was planned to be a 123-home residential development for low-income families near Carey Avenue and Commerce Street.

The never-completed project was stymied by construction delays, soil problems and lawsuits from contractors. The property has since been sold. England estimated the housing authority absorbed about $1.9 million in losses on Desert Mesa.

• The housing authority's insurer canceled its coverage in late 2005 after claiming that the "extremely troubled" agency had failed to address ongoing problems of financial mismanagement, low occupancy rates, sexual harassment of employees, low employee morale and other problems.

The agency, which had previously paid about $50,000 a year for insurance, has since had to purchase coverage from another company for about three times the cost.

• A 2007 HUD audit found that the housing authority failed to use $4.4 million in public money that was supposed to be spent to house needy people.

The money was earmarked for the agency's Section 8 program, and not using it meant that many of those eligible for vouchers didn't receive them as quickly as they should have.

• The Las Vegas Housing Authority this year took over management of North Las Vegas's public housing units after HUD said they were being incompetently managed.

• Because of funding cuts from HUD, England has been forced to lay off more than half of his staff in recent years, he said. The agency once had 38 employees. Now, there are 15.

Funding deficiencies were at the root of many agency problems, England said, leaving him unable to adequately fund programs.

"Instead of saying it's poor management on my part, maybe some of it has to do with the fact that we haven't had the money we needed," he said.

When asked what if any responsibility he takes for problems at the agency, England paused for a moment.

"I felt like the charge the board gave me was to create more housing instead of focusing on what we already had," he said. "I should have paid more attention to Casa Rosa."

Still, he insists he has always had his public housing residents' best interests at heart.

"I wish them all well," he said.

"I hope the residents can get decent housing. And if they can find someone else to come in and turn this agency around, no one would be happier."

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