THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080487
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TONI WHITT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
It's been more than a year since the state and federal government began demanding that the city and the Suffolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority repay grants that were mismanaged. The final deadline is next week, and the city seems to be stalling once again.
In a letter dated Jan. 27, City Manager Myles E. Standish asked the director of the Virginia Housing Development Authority for more time ``to discuss alternatives.''
Standish, who became Suffolk's city manager late last year, said that the city has added inspectors and begun other programs to improve the housing stock.
``Simply transferring funds can be a little counterproductive,'' Standish said Tuesday. ``Since I'm really viewing this for the first time as the city manager, perhaps I can suggest some alternatives that may not have been looked at before.''
But John Ritchie Jr., executive director of the state's housing authority, wrote in a Jan. 31 letter: ``I am concerned about your request for a meeting to discuss further alternatives. The audit findings were released in September of 1993, and the final date HUD has for resolution of the audit findings is February 17, 1995.''
Joseph K. Aversano, Director of HUD's Department of Community Planning and Development, said state and federal officials have tentatively set a meeting with the city for Friday to determine how much the city will repay and whether a payment plan can be established if repayment can't be managed immediately.
In a series of letters dated last month, the Virginia Housing Development Authority demanded that the full $48,211 due the state be repaid by next week and added that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ``is likely'' to demand another $39,403 in federal money this month.
The state and federal housing agencies began scrutinizing Suffolk's handling of its rental rehabilitation grant program after an investigation by The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star found that homes supposedly fixed in the program were uninhabitable. The newspapers discovered that building permits had not been issued for some projects and that, in some cases, inspections never were done.
The Virginia Housing Development Authority asked the city in September 1993 to repay $170,742. In a report to the city, the state housing authority said more than $225,000 of $1 million in grants had been spent without justification and that 102 of 147 homes in the grant program had failed to meet federal minimum housing standards.
That amount has been reduced, as city officials have gone back through the documents, hunted old receipts and requested that landlords sign and certify documents that had been missing.
``As this process has developed, HUD reduced the amount because justifications or documentations were produced to HUD's satisfaction,'' said Michael H. Anderson, a spokesperson for the state.
``Anytime an amount drops, that's good news for Suffolk. HUD apparently received the substantiation it needed.''
The city has also reinspected houses, noted deficiencies and asked for improvements where they were possible, said Cynthia Rohlf, who assists the city manager and has worked with the city's housing authority. One landlord who had received the grants bulldozed his four duplexes after problems with the program were uncovered. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Myles E. Standish, Suffolk city manager, wants to discuss
alternatives.
by CNB