HUD gave MSHA five years of high marks

STATE — The federal government gave Maine State Housing Authority (MSHA) high marks for administering the Section 8 program, according to a statement from MSHA.

Robert Cwieka, director of the Boston hub of the federal department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), sent MSHA a blistering letter in the wake of revelations that several subsidized apartments in Oxford County were in violation of health and safety requirements.

"As the funding agency, HUD was outraged that federal funds were spent that allowed subsidized tenants to live in substandard conditions," wrote Cwieka in a January 10 letter to MSHA Executive Director Dale McCormick.

Now, it would appear that Cwieka's comments on behalf of HUD are at odds with its own annual performance reviews of MSHA.

"For the past five years, we have been rated a high performer," said Deborah Turcotte, MSHA spokesperson.

In a public statement, MSHA noted that the HUD review of its Section 8 Management Asset Plan included many of the factors that are now under fire.

"The review encompasses 16 criteria including quality control inspections, efficient use of Section 8 funds, and timely reporting to HUD of tenant and financial data," according to the statement.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan indicated that MSHA would be required to draft a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) in a January 30 letter to Senator Susan Collins, who asked HUD to review the situation.

Donovan said that the actions that have already been taken by MSHA were "insufficient." After the unsafe housing conditions were first publicized, MSHA moved quickly to bar landlord Madeline Pratt from the program, fire a housing inspector, take over Section 8 administration from subcontractor Avesta Housing, and relocate the affected tenants.

Turcotte said that MSHA and HUD are essentially in agreement on the future changes that need to be made to improve the program.

"We passed around a CAP [before January 17] and gave it to HUD," she said. "They looked at our plan. They liked it, but they said, 'let's add some more.' They wanted some dates, some time lines and some accountability standards as well. We have had positive talks with them to see what we can do to improve this and see what we can do jointly."

According to Turcotte, the office of HUD's inspector general is reviewing documents from 2010 and 2011 to determine whether MaineHousing has sufficient management practices.

MSHA shared many of the changes that it plans to implement, which includes significantly more oversight of individual housing inspectors.

A call to HUD's federal media relations department was not returned as of press time.