Mayor Donna Deegan says pay raise for Jacksonville Housing Authority CEO should wait

Mayor Donna Deegan's office intervened to put the brakes on the Jacksonville Housing Authority board giving a pay raise to the agency's top executive while Deegan takes a closer look at how the authority is fighting the affordable housing crisis.

The upshot is that at least for now, CEO Dwayne Alexander is working without a contract because his previous multi-year contract expired in September. Meanwhile, the authority continues to finalize deals that will add about 1,000 units to its housing inventory in the agency's biggest expansion of housing options in years.

Alexander received a pay raise in the spring that took his annual salary to $250,000. The housing authority board was discussing another raise that would have boosted it to around $310,000 but those talks stopped when two mayoral aides told the board at its Nov. 9 meeting that a pay raise would send the wrong message.

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"The administration does not support a raise at this time," mayoral aide Garrett Dennis told the board at the start of that meeting.

Dennis, who was joined by mayoral aide Tracye Polson at the meeting, said combatting the housing crisis is at the top of Deegan's agenda and her administration was concerned about "the optics" of awarding a pay raise in the midst of that crisis.

Board Chairman Christopher Walker told Dennis the authority completely agrees there is a crisis. He said it's been "working very hard" to purchase properties "when there is not a lot of people doing that." He credited Alexander for moving those deals forward.

"He works tirelessly day after day, and it would be a real shame for this agency, the board and the city if we lose him because we don't want to pay him what all the other CEOs at similar agencies are making," Walker said.

UNF poll finds cost of housing is No. 1 worry statewide

The cost of housing was the top concern cited by Florida residents when the University of North Florida's Public Opinion Research Lab released a statewide poll on Nov. 30. A UNF poll in September of Jacksonville residents found housing costs were the No. 2 concern.

The housing authority is one of the city's independent agencies with a seven-member board appointed by the mayor. The board is in charge of hiring the CEO and setting policy for the agency, which is one of the city's biggest housing providers, especially for people with low incomes.

The housing authority is separate from the city's Housing and Community Development department and the Jacksonville Housing Finance Authority that both operate out of City Hall. The Jacksonville Housing Finance Authority arranges for financing to build and repair affordable housing for low, moderate and middle-income families.

The Jacksonville Housing Authority owns about 3,000 units in its own apartment complexes. The authority also administers about 8,300 federal housing choice vouchers funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that offset the amount of rent paid by residents in privately-owned apartments.

Deegan said the examination of the housing authority is part of her administration digging into the effectiveness of all of the city's boards and commissions in fulfilling their missions. She said the city must make headway in helping people find housing they can afford.

"We all realize what a major crisis this is," she said. "I think we have to address that, and if we don't, we're going to be leaving a lot of people in a bad situation."

Joshua Hicks, the affordable housing director for the city, has said the long-term solution is increasing the supply of housing.

The housing authority board came to the same conclusion in 2021 when it began searching for property it could buy.

For the first time, the housing authority went to Wall Street for a bond rating and received an A-plus score to borrow money for financing the purchase of existing apartments and homes for rentals. The authority's goal is to add 500 rental units per year.

Most recently, the authority closed on the $8 million purchase of the complaint-ridden Downtown East Apartments, formerly known as Franklin Arms, in the Eastside neighborhood. The city declared the complex a public nuisance in 2022 because of violent crime.

The housing authority will gut and renovate the 102-unit apartment building. The rents will be affordable to low-income and moderate-income residents.

Other deals by the housing authority include a commitment to buy at least 50 new single-family homes from JWB Real Estate Capital scattered in eight zip codes and partner with Chase Properties for the construction of 102 new townhomes off Normandy Boulevard on the Westside. Twenty of the townhomes will be rented at rates that are affordable for people whose household income is 80% or less of the annual median income in the Jacksonville area.

The housing authority has been working with Miami-based Tre Bel Housing on a plan for building a 431-unit apartment building near the junction of Interstate 95 and Interstate 10 on the Westside. The rents for those apartments would be geared toward renters with household incomes of 50%, 60%, 80% and 120% of annual median income.

The authority also plans to join with Atlanta-based Integral Group to buy and renovate the 256-unit Westwood Apartments at 1171 Lane Ave. S.

City spokesman Phillip Perry said that over the coming months, Deegan wants to build a stronger partnership with the housing authority and will be examining its development plans, how it uses its existing resources and how the city and authority can work together to win federal housing grants.

Deegan wants to work with the authority to win HUD grants

"In HUD's eyes, one of the obstacles to expanding grant opportunities is ensuring that the already offered resources are being fully utilized," Perry said.

He said when Deegan met HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary Adrianne Todman in Washington, D.C., in early November, HUD officials said that "500 of our local Section 8 vouchers were not being used. This is one example of an area where we hope to work with JHA to set up the city for future investment."

Alexander said HUD provides 8,358 Section 8 housing vouchers to the housing authority, and in early November, 8,095 of those vouchers were used in leased contracts to subsidize rent for tenants of privately-owned apartments, which was 97% of the vouchers.

He said during the course of the year, the housing authority has been at 100% for its HUD-assigned vouchers being in contract with private landlords.

He said the percentage of vouchers in lease contracts fluctuates because residents who get a voucher have up to 60 days to find an apartment that will accept the voucher. He said that because some people end up not actually using the voucher, the housing authority will give out about 500 vouchers to people at any given time so they can hunt for a place to live.

He said the goal is always to hit 100%, but having 97% of the HUD vouchers in lease contracts still is on the high end for housing authorities.

"There's always room for improvement but we think we can build a very solid program," he said. "It's a juggling act and we juggle it very well."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville mayor Deegan blocks pay raise for housing authority CEO