At the Northwest Oregon Housing Authority, a long road back to stability

Jan. 20—When the Northwest Oregon Housing Authority was flagged as "troubled" by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in January 2020, the extent of the turmoil, and how it got to that point, was not entirely clear.

The housing authority develops low-income housing and provides other critical housing assistance to residents in Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook counties.

The agency was deemed troubled after an audit of the housing choice voucher program, the federal government's primary outreach to help low-income families, the elderly and people with disabilities afford housing in the private market.

Housing authorities are designated as troubled if they score between 0 and 60 out of 100 points in a Housing and Urban Development review. The agency received a score of 7.

At a time when the housing crisis on the North Coast was at its most critical, the Northwest Oregon Housing Authority was struggling to function.

A budget shortfall forced the agency to stop issuing new vouchers until finances stabilized. That meant people on the waiting list, who often have to wait years to get to the top, had to wait even longer for help.

Day-to-day operations were characterized as crisis management.

Quadel, a Washington, D.C., based management and consulting firm, was hired to oversee the housing choice voucher program and work with Housing and Urban Development on a corrective action plan. Jim Evans, a director at Quadel, was named the housing authority's interim executive director after Todd Johnston, the previous executive director, resigned without explanation.

Over the past few years, the agency has slowly made progress.

In June, the housing authority's rating was elevated by Housing and Urban Development to a "standard performer" after earning a score of 74 out of 100. The freeze on new vouchers was lifted.

Evans also shepherded new housing projects and initiated development that will substantially increase the number of units across the region.

The agency's board took another step forward in June when it appointed Elissa Gertler, the former planning and development director for Oregon Metro, as executive director.

While the housing choice voucher program has improved and housing projects are being completed, the agency has only begun to make progress on other foundational challenges, including staffing, property management and funding for deferred maintenance.

Gertler likened Evans' work to an emergency room doctor and the housing authority as a patient.

"He saved the patient's life," she told The Astorian. "Now the patient is out of the emergency room, but still in the ICU."

Gertler described the challenges in stark terms.

"We do not have the systems, structures, policies, procedures and infrastructure in place that is needed to run a public housing authority," she said. "There's housing authorities all across the United States. We lack basic organizational infrastructure needed to responsibly steward our federal and state funds."

'Fairly easy to identify'

When Evans was appointed interim executive director in the fall of 2020, the housing authority had just retained the services of Quadel, which brought a wealth of experience working with housing authorities across the country.

Evans said he began working closely with Nina Reed, the chairwoman of the housing authority's board, to determine the agency's commitments.

"NOHA's challenges were fairly easy to identify," he said, adding that in most cases the issues were related to not having adequate funding.

Hiring people capable of doing the work that needed to be done during the coronavirus pandemic was, and remains, a challenge.

The problems with the housing choice voucher program put the agency at risk of losing the ability to administer the program in Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook counties.

If that had happened, Evans suspects Housing and Urban Development would have assigned the state or a nearby housing authority to oversee the program.

With advice from Housing and Urban Development, the agency temporarily stopped issuing new vouchers and took measures to prevent vouchers from being revoked.

People who were next in line had to wait until the agency's budget stabilized, since there was not enough money available to support the voucher they would have received.

Evans said Housing and Urban Development helped fill the gap, but the agency still had to work through funding issues before it could start issuing new vouchers.

Evans described frustration "on the part of the families who thought they were going to get a voucher soon and then weren't able to get it because we didn't have the money available to make that happen.

"And it took almost a year to sort of work through that cycle," he said.

The housing choice voucher program began issuing vouchers again in 2021. Vouchers for new people on the waiting list started in May, and around the same time, the program's rating improved from a troubled to a standard performer.

'Biggest challenge'

The housing authority also had several housing projects in process when Evans took over. The projects included Holden Creek Village, a 60-unit apartment complex in Tillamook, Broadleaf Arbor, a 239-unit project in St. Helens, and Trillium House, a 42-unit apartment complex in Warrenton.

The projects add to the agency's inventory of 14 properties with more than 250 units.

Evans said managing the components of each of the new housing projects was the biggest hurdle.

"There's investors, there's lenders — all of them wanting updates and reports and understandings of what's happening, why it's happening. Is their investment at risk?

"And making sure that all of those partners continue to have confidence that the housing authority will be able to produce on its commitments, I think, was the biggest challenge," he said.

Evans found that the housing authority had committed to provide project-based vouchers to the three housing developments. However, Housing and Urban Development had not approved the request to award vouchers.

A project-based voucher is assistance that is tied to a unit, while housing choice vouchers follow an individual.

Project-based vouchers guarantee a stable source of income for new developments. People can also move into a unit subsidized by a project-based voucher until a housing choice voucher becomes available.

Since construction had already started at Holden Creek Village in Tillamook, Evans said the project-based vouchers planned for the site were not awarded by Housing and Urban Development.

The result, he said, was the loss of some permanent financing, which left the agency scrambling to fill the gap. Rising materials costs made the problem even more challenging.

Since construction had not yet begun on the other two projects, Evans said the proper steps were taken to ensure they would have a segment of units subsidized by project-based vouchers.

Meanwhile, the housing authority is moving ahead with another new development and two redevelopments.

The agency is in the design phase of the Owens II, which will double the size of the Owens-Adair, adding 50 units of affordable housing for seniors and people with disabilities near downtown Astoria. The project's design is under review by the city's Historic Landmarks Commission.

The housing authority is also redeveloping the Champion Park Apartments, a 130-unit complex in Tillamook, and Gable Park Apartments, a 35-unit complex in St. Helens that will grow to 50 to 70 units.

During his time as interim director, Evans said the agency gained a handle on the deferred maintenance needed at existing properties so a plan could be put together to address the backlog.

"I think that the community should be proud that it has a housing authority and a board of directors and executive director now that are all fully committed to the mission of making sure that there's safe and adequate affordable housing in the Northwest Oregon region," he said. "And I think that that commitment over the last two years has only become stronger."

'People need to step up quickly'

Over the past several months, Gertler, who brings leadership experience at public agencies small and large, has been putting a team together.

In early December, Gertler hired Shannon Callahan, the former director of the Portland Housing Bureau, as the agency's deputy executive director.

Callahan, who led Portland's response to affordable housing for the past five years, began earlier this month. She will focus on developing housing projects, funding and property development issues.

Last year, Gertler also hired Tom Rinehart, the owner of Rinehart Strategies, to assess the agency's operational needs and produce a report that will help inform the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

Rinehart has held top state and local government positions in Oregon, most recently as Portland's chief administrative officer.

Gertler hopes the new property and resident services manager will increase attention to tenants and help fill long-vacant units.

She expects the new additions, which were hired with the support of Clatsop County's federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, to add significant capacity to the slim staff.

"It's not just me who doesn't have the capacity, it's our counties who don't have the infrastructure to build housing," she said. "And that's not necessarily unique to the coast.

"But that's kind of a condition of the world right now. People need to step up quickly. It's so urgent now that there's not this nice long runway to take the plane up. You got to get going. You have to build the plane and fly it at the same time, as others would say."

Gertler said progress requires partnerships and community development in all three counties, not just building new buildings. She has already started making connections in the community to help spur housing at all income levels.

"It's almost like a complete door has been opened in the last two years," said Reed, who joined the agency as the board's chairwoman in 2019. "There is so much outreach with the community and our community partners that we've never had before.

"We all want to work together because the housing authority can't just do it on their own. We have to have so many teams involved."

Reed, who has gone beyond her regular board duties, even at times taking on roles such as property management, said Gertler brings a strong network and the ability to build relationships.

"Together with us, she will lead us and her team, and I'm just really thrilled," she said.

Clatsop County Commissioner Pamela Wev, who has served on the housing authority's board as the county liaison since 2019, described the housing authority during a commission meeting earlier this month as "emerging."

Wev praised Gertler's approach to supporting "this very troubled organization."

"She's hired incredibly experienced people with deep, deep roots in housing, and it is very exciting," she said.