Sheehan, Hongoltz-Hetling named journalists of the year

FREEPORT — The editor and a former assistant editor of the Advertiser-Democrat were named Journalists of the Year at the annual Maine Press Association awards banquet Saturday.

Editor Anne Sheehan and Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling, who is now a staff writer at the Waterville Sentinel, were honored for their teamwork over the past year reporting on the deplorable living conditions in public housing projects in the Oxford Hills area.

Last April, Sheehan and Hongoltz-Hetling were named 2012 Pulitzer Prize finalists for their work, and last week a report released by the HUD Inspector General determined that the Maine State Housing Authority mismanaged its project and failed to ensure that participants in its Housing Choice Voucher program were living in decent, safe and sanitary conditions.

In its nomination letter to the Maine Press Association, Sun Media noted that its “reporting team’s work uncovered inhumane living conditions and energized government to address – rather than continue to ignore – housing violations that caused tremendous suffering for hundreds of low-income Mainers. In the process, landlords responsible for – and profiting from – poor living conditions were denied federal housing vouchers, putting these guys out of business.”

Ed Snook, publisher of the Advertiser-Democrat, said Sheehan “saw a serious problem in the Norway area and stepped into the fray with both feet,” organizing coverage and ensuring a prominent position for reports on the newspaper’s front page.

“She and Matt showed a passion for this community that makes a small weekly paper all it can hope to be,” Snook said. “We served the public, our readers and advertisers in the best possible way.”

In its final report released last week, HUD found that 53 of 61 (87 percent) of the units it inspected as a result of Sheehan and Hongoltz-Hetling’s investigation did not meet state quality standards. As a result, taxpayers paid at least $194,956 in housing assistance for tenants who were living in units that failed to meet state standards.

The report also concluded that MaineHousing officials did not always comply with either HUD or their own policies on procurement and expenditure practices.

In response to these findings, the Office of the Inspector General to HUD has asked MaineHousing to repay $197,000 to the federal government.