Ferndale Housing Commission Discusses HUD Report, Sets Deadlines for Progress

Ferndale Housing Commission Discusses HUD Report, Sets Deadlines for Progress
(Crystal A. Proxmire, July 12, 2015)
With new members Dan Martin serving as President and Ann Heler serving as Vice President, the Ferndale Housing Commission is working hard to address the list of concerns brought forward by the HUD review that came out June 11.
The FHC met on Monday, July 6 to go through the list of concerns and prepare a response that is due to HUD by the end of the month. The commission has increased their meetings to every two weeks, with the next one being Wednesday July 15. Martin and Heler have also been putting in hours meeting with HUD representatives in Detroit, meeting with staff, and working to fix the wrongs uncovered by the report.
Acting Director Emily Vickey read through the list of concerns and shared the responses she’s been drafting to each item.  Many items require a corrective action, such as revising a policy, following a policy that is already in place, or making sure employees and/or commissioners have been trained. Others, like a lack of lead paint reporting, simply require more documentation to show that the concern was already being addressed. And other items Vickey said were worth disputing.
Customer Service and Resident Groups
For example HUD was critical of customer service. Customers cannot be seen without an appointment and requests to meet with staff must be put in writing. Waiting list and admissions inquires may only be made on the first Friday of each month from 8:30am to 11:30am. HUD also found that the front desk was not consistently attended to. Vickey said there were “several inaccuracies” in HUD’s concern, stating that they are not required to meet with residents without an appointment, and that the FHC budget does not allow for a receptionist.
Commissioner Paul Stuart assured residents and the public that they would always be able to come to FHC meetings if they felt a need was not being addressed. “I think the previous Director tried to keep residents away from here,” Stuart said. “People can come here and make requests… This is inclusive now.”
HUD is also requiring FHC to reinstate resident groups. In the past groups were disbanded and residents were warned or even given written violations for meeting or complaining.
The culture of trepidation has been gradually changing as residents have been organizing and speaking about issues important to them. The former Director, Deborah Wilson, left after being arrested for going into the homes of senior and disabled residents and stealing their pain medications for herself. Though she is gone, it’s taken time for residents to speak up and organize. However, resident groups are a right of residents and a requirement of HUD.
“Resident groups are not successful,” Vickey said in response to HUD’s insistence on allowing them.
Vickey noted that she’d hosted meetings at both Autumn House and Withington for residents. Five people showed up to Withington’s meeting and 50 came to the one at Autumn House she said. Those meetings were organized, led and attended by FHC staff.
Work Orders and Maintenance Billing
There is a dispute over HUD’s assessment of maintenance worker productivity. HUD found that with a staff of two (normally there are three but one was out on medical leave), they were averaging 0.7 work orders per day. Vickey said they were not taking into consideration they were down a person. President Martin wondered if there may have been work that was done but not properly documented, and stressed that they “want to emphasize with maintenance folks that they need to document everything.” He added “HUD told us we had a perfectly adequate system we just need to use it.”
The lack of documentation may also be what led HUD to believe residents were not being billed consistently for work done. HUD is asking that FHC review invoices and make refunds to those who were charged more than the list price for work done in their homes.
Vickey said prices are consistent with the industry, if not low.
Pests
Vickey reported that pests and rodents were an issue because of a “problem with resident compliance.” She stated the bedbugs are spread by people visiting other apartments that have them, failure to report problems to staff, and failure to prepare rooms for treatment.
Financial Matters
FHC administration is still working on exploring financial records to determine the extent of what should be repaid to HUD programs and if anything in dispute might be a qualified expense. Most of the documents requested were turned into HUD but some were missing or not up to date. Gathering the proper files may help mitigate some of the expenses HUD is claiming. “I’m trying to navigate someone else’s file systems so it’s taking time to find documents,” Vickey said. However she is hopeful that some of the documents could save the commission money as the amount owed gets worked out.
She did note that the Commission stopped payment on part of former Director Wilson’s payout, and the $21,000 was put into escrow. HUD determined that the $130,000 severance given to Wilson at her departure was not an appropriate expense and it could not be paid for out of HUD program funds.
Final resolutions to the financial, contract, and other legal issues will come after a new attorney for the Commission is hired.
Other issues
The meeting covered responses to every concern listed in the HUD report findings. The meeting is taped nearly in full (with pauses to restart the camera) below.

The next couple of months hold a lot of work for the Commission, and opportunities for residents and the public to be involved. The FHC has begun posting meeting information and agendas online at http://ferndalehousing.com, The advocacy group Detroit Eviction Defense continues to work with residents and support them as they keep a strong voice in the process. Ferndale City Attorney Dan Christ is assisting with some legal tasks while the RFP for a new attorney is being filled. And with each meeting and each policy decision, the FHC is closer to having the kind of community that Ferndale’s older, disabled and low income residents can feel good to call home.
A complete list of stories about the Ferndale Housing Commission is available at https://oaklandcounty115.com/2015/06/28/timeline-of-ferndale-housing-commissions-struggles-and-progress/.

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