Serving the High Plains

HUD may take control in Tucumcari

Three years of failing to achieve a 98% occupancy rate in its rental units may result in the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, taking control of managing the Tucumcari Housing Authority.

A letter signed by Floyd Duran, director of New Mexico HUD operations, noted Tucumcari Housing Authority (THA) had accumulated three years of "unacceptable" scores - 13, 9, and 13 each out of possible total of 25 - in the "Management" category of HUD evaluations, which are based largely on that 98% occupancy standard.

At a meeting of the THA board Thursday, Duran said occupancy levels in fiscal years 2016, 2017 and 2018, ranged from 93% to 95%. Fiscal years begin July 1 of one year and end on June 30 the following year.

Tucumcari city manager Britt Lusk said Friday the 98% of THA's 90 units "equates to 1.8 units."

The HUD standards, he said, are "very stringent" and unfair to smaller cities.

"When you have control over several hundred units," he said, "there is more leeway" in the standards.

While the HUD letter and comments from a HUD spokesperson were critical of THA's management, however, Lusk and other THA board members noted benefits to the housing authority that would come with relinquishing control to a regional authority.

THA's director, Vicki Riddle, admitted Thursday she didn't know how she should respond to the criticism in the face of the possible benefits to her agency.

In other categories of the HUD's Public Housing Assessment System, THA scored 37 of 40 in physical plant performance, 7 of 10 in capital fund performance and a perfect score of 25 in financial performance, according to Duran's letter.

Based on the "substandard" management scores, however, HUD's New Mexico State Office has decided to "transfer annual contributions contracts to the regional housing authority for Quay County," the letter said.

The amount of the annual contributions contracts totals $797,441, according to an email from Patricia Campbell, public affairs representative for HUD's Region VI, based in Fort Worth, Texas.

In addition to New Mexico, Region VI serves Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, according to a HUD website.

Campbell's message said the money does not affect the city's local operating funds.

"These funds are provided to the city by HUD solely for the purpose of operating HUD programs and do not become part of the city's general operating funds," she stated in the email.

In addition to occupancy scores, however, Tucumcari also scored low on collections of outstanding debts.

"THA has failed to collect rent to HUD's standard for 2016, 2017 and 2018," Campbell's email stated. "There is no justification to leave units vacant and not collect outstanding debt.

"Despite all HUD's efforts to work with the housing authority over the past three years," she added, "the situation has not improved, so we are obliged to take actions to ensure that the program is administered properly."

The regional housing authority for Quay County is the Eastern Regional Housing Authority based in Roswell, which covers Quay County as well as Chaves, De Baca, Eddy, Guadalupe, Harding, Lea, Lincoln, Otero, Roosevelt, Union and Curry counties.

According to Mandy Griego, a HUD portfolio management specialist who attended Thursday's THA meeting with Duran, benefits of regional control would include recruitment of new employees from a larger pool, training programs and the leveraging of larger amounts of money for grants, as well as "rent-to-own" programs for public housing clients and expanded development of rental units in the city, among other benefits.

On the downside, Lusk said, "we lose local control" but added THA "is just a pass-through for that money, anyway."

Duran said THA probably failed to meet standards "despite your best efforts."

District 1 Commissioner Ralph Moya said he has had "bad experiences" with regional control of mental-health programs. Moya is a licensed clinical social worker and mental-health counselor.

Moya said regional organizations can be unresponsive.

"They don't return telephone calls," he said, often until it is too late.

Griego said a local presence still would be available to THA's renters and the community.

In addition, they said, current THA employees would keep their jobs and might receive higher pay and benefits as state employees.

Moya also expressed frustration he had not been made aware of any letters HUD had sent to commissioners in previous years about problems involving low management scores.

When Moya brought up the letter at the Aug 8 city commission meeting, Lusk said he, too, had been "blindsided" by the 2018 letter.

Moya noted the address to which HUD had addressed his letter was wrong.

As a member of the "governing body" for THA, he said, he should have been notified.

District 5 Commissioner Todd Duplantis expressed concern about how public housing renters would be screened. Griego said current screening standards would remain in place.

If the Tucumcari Housing Authority board, consisting of all five Tucumcari city commission members and Timothy Durkin, a resident of public housing, approves the transfer of authority, it will not be alone.

"To date, 20 housing authorities (HA) have transferred, with the closest to Tucumcari being the Vaughn HA, Lovington HA, Eunice HA and Artesia HA," Campbell said.

If the board approves the transfer of authority, Griego said, the process could take a few months. The transfer would take place within 60 days of the completion of processing for the necessary forms, she said.