Lansing Housing Commission votes to advance HUD sale application after heated public comment

LANSING — The Lansing Housing Commission passed two resolutions Wednesday night relating to the sale of 200-plus public housing units after many who spoke during public comment made clear they were against the move.

Both resolutions passed 3-2 during Wednesday night's special meeting. One resolution was to submit the commission's sale application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; the other was to award SK Investments, the proposed buyer, 235 Section 18 vouchers.

Members tabled the resolutions at a June 28 meeting to conduct further research.

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Commissioners Don "Moose" Sober and Heather Taylor voted against the measures.

"I'm unfamiliar with the situation and there's too many questions," Sober said. "There's too many 'if this happens, what do we do.'"

Taylor declined to comment, but confirmed she voted no.

Lansing Housing Commission Executive Director Doug Fleming told the State Journal he doesn't have estimates on the sale's revenues because 40 renters expressed interest in buying their properties and the final number of homes to be sold is subject to change.

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Derrick Knox, founder of Advancement Corporation, said during the nearly one-hour public comment session that he submitted a request for proposal, which required him to sign a confidentiality agreement with Affordable Housing Investment Brokerage, the firm representing the commission.

He alleged the commission neglected to assess statewide and local minority-focused organizations' viability for the RFP, which violates HUD's equity action plan.

"None of that was taken into consideration and then to be completely ignored during this process was nothing short of disrespect to us or anybody else here locally," Knox said.

Fleming later denied Knox's claim, stating the commission hasn't received an agreement or proposal from Knox. He said local organizations like Knox's and the Fledge Foundation don't have the funds or history to support managing public housing units.

"They have no money. They can't afford to buy it," Fleming said.

Knox provided the LSJ a copy of his confidentiality agreement, which was signed Feb. 10.

Fleming declined to reveal who submitted RFPs. The LSJ has filed a public records request for the information.

Housing advocates and residents of other housing conversion sites spoke during public comment about concerns with the housing commission's track record in maintenance requests.

"These people are living in these houses, one for 22 years and never had new paint, because they don't deserve it?" questioned Shannon Norris of the Fledge Foundation.

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Fleming said advocates and residents are pushinga "false narrative." He said the claims of mold are instead mildew.

"If you go through and use any cleaner that's available out there, that stuff just wipes off and it's not a horrible substance that everybody's making it sound," he said.

Renters can request inspections from HUD and Lansing Code Enforcement if they feel the commission isn't taking adequate action, Fleming said.

What happens next?

Fleming said HUD will review all documents relating to the sale including the RFP process to verify whether the commission conducted steps legally and in an equitable manner.

He said he doesn't know how long the process will take.

"If it was, they can say 'yes, you did this right.' We can move forward," he said. "If they say we didn't, then they can tell us to go back and we'll have to redo (the RFP) again."

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Contact reporter Krystal Nurse at (517) 267-1344 or knurse@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @KrystalRNurse.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Lansing Housing Commission moves forward in HUD application, vouchers