Page 2 - Florida Sentinel 8-18-17

Feature
Divine Order: Tampa Park’s Rent Subsidy Approved For Another Year
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Tampa Park Apartment’s manager, Yolanda An- thony is happy to announce that the Department of Housing and Urban Devel- opment (HUD) has approved Tampa Park's 208 rent sub- sidy vouchers through the end of 2018.
According to an article in the Tampa Bay Times, the property was warned that a loss of subsidy could hap- pen if... in its last Thursday edition, however, the pro- perty learned that the 2018 subsidy was approved on last Friday.
The owners and manage- ment distributed a memo on Saturday to quiet the fears of its approximate 400 families that their rent subsidy was ‘ok’ for 1 more year.
According to property Vice Chair, Kay Andrews, “I’ve been a journalist for 40+ years, and Black all my life, so this type of story fuel- ed and leaked by an un- named source, sadly, does not surprise me.”
She continued, “The Daily Word on the day of the story said, ‘How can I af- firm divine order in the midst of less-than-ideal situ- ations? There is a great peace
and serenity in accepting all is well and everything is hap- pening for the best, regard- less of the circumstances.’
“So the fact that the re- porter made sure the story was published on Thursday, and we got word from HUD on Friday that we had been approved was the divine order.
“Tampa Park is finally at the point of going to trial for the lawsuit we were forced to file against HUD in 2014. The mayor (Bob Buck- horn), Cong. Kathy Cas- tor and others know we worked feverishly from 2009-2013 to resolve the
issue on an HUD administra- tive level, without resolve. There is no level playing field, because the property, in its 49-year history, had not failed inspection until these last 3 years of our pending litigation.’’
She further said that as far as the findings were con- cerned, “the roach infesta- tion is laughable. We do not have an infestation. ‘We live in Florida, it’s been raining and it is super hot.”
Tampa Park houses 1,200 people in approximately 400 apartments.
“We are in the business of housing low-income resi-
dents in the best and safest way possible, but Tampa Park will be 50-years old next year. You would think that that would be taken into account.
“However, as our pro- perty manager told the re- porter, most of our ‘dings’ (points against the score) were for things on the out- side, like, graffiti on the TECO pole, the soffits (listed as roof issues), the gutters not being positioned pro- perly, grass growing be- tween the sidewalks and chipped paint at the base of the buildings.
“The inspector also saw a black substance in the bath- room in 2 of the 30+ apart- ments inspected and called it mold, without it being tested. We called in a mold expert,
and it was just build up. We still made the repairs imme- diately. However, it is up to HUD to increase the score after proof of the corrections are submitted.
“Tampa Park’s 2017 in- spection was done in June, and we have already had our score increased by 6 points on one phase of the property, but HUD did not increase the score on the other phase for the same thing.
“To be fair, HUD has un- dertaken many changes, with key retirements and the hir- ing of outside contractors to do the tasks that seasoned HUD employees once per- formed.
“Case in point, we hired a new leasing manager a year ago, who retired after 25- years with HUD. She had a key position in the Miami District Office, and is a God- send to our operation.
“When the inspector came to the property in June, she rode with him during the inspection. After it was over, she was sure the property would score a 70 or higher. After we received the score, she could not believe it, and began calling her former col- leagues to find out what was going on.
“We never informed her about the litigation, so she had a virgin eye and atti- tude. Her reaction was based on her past experience and knowledge as a former HUD employee,” she concluded.
PAGE 2-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017