The city of Albert Lea has a housing problem, and part of the solution may be to take the city out of the housing business altogether.

Wednesday, February 27, 2002

The city of Albert Lea has a housing problem, and part of the solution may be to take the city out of the housing business altogether. City officials and members of the city’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) Board are discussing whether the HRA should become an independent agency.

The city manages nearly 200 rental units owned by the local HRA, and provides administrative support for other federal housing programs, including the Section 8 program, which currently provides rent certificates for more than 150 low-income residents.

According to Paul Sparks, city manager, part of the problem is the age of the public housing units in the city. Most are now at least 30 years old, and maintenance issues are becoming both more costly and time consuming. These issues are especially prevalent at the Senior Towers high rise, where increasing numbers of tenants with special needs are requiring more oversight and work by maintenance staff, he said.

There have also been problems with the Section 8 program, because average rental costs in Albert Lea exceed the federal government’s guidelines. Certificate holders are having trouble finding housing that qualifies, Sparks said.

&uot;These issues need the response of a full-time manager and a separate policy board, not part-time staff and a policy board which only meets for 30 minutes once a month,&uot; said Sparks.

Sparks is one of three city staff who currently share part-time responsility for oversight of the city-managed apartments and other housing programs. The other two are Bill Schmitt, assistant city manager, and Bob Graham, the city planner, who actually bears the brunt of the responsibility for day-to-day decisionmaking.

The city took on the role of managing the housing units and programs for the federal government 20 years ago, but that arrangement just doesn’t work anymore, said Sparks. There’s too much work for the part-time efforts of current staff and HRA board members.

Creating an independent agency also opens up the possibility of combining city and county housing programs into one agency, he said. But that’s not the main reason for doing it, he added.

As part of the reorganization process, the city council authorized an expansion of the HRA board to include all current council members. That expanded board will meet for the first time early in March. As of now, no timeline or deadlines have been established by when decisions have to be made.