Workshop educates candidates on public housing

GALVESTON — Galveston mayoral and city council candidates got an overview of Galveston Housing Authority operations Tuesday at a meeting that drew a room full of interested community members and stakeholders.

While the debate over the need for public housing on the island rages on, the workshop meeting was meant to educate the prospective public officials, Betty Massey, chairwoman of the Galveston Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, said.

“We’re not here to talk about whether there should be 569 public housing units on the island,” she said. “We’re not trying to convince anyone of our plan. It’s not a sales job. We’re here to educate our future leaders.”

Council members Elizabeth Beeton and Rusty Legg and mayoral candidates Beau Rawlins, Lewis Rosen and Mayor Joe Jaworski attended the public meeting.

The housing authority brought in MaryAnn Russ, chief executive officer and president for the Dallas Housing Authority, to lead the “Public Housing 101” meeting.

Among several topics, Russ, a former deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, discussed the role of the federal government, the housing authority board and the housing authority staff.

“The housing authority is a separate public body,” she said. “It’s not a part of the city of Galveston.”

Russ said the housing authority can engage in mixed-income transactions, a proposal the housing authority has promoted to rebuild some of the 569 public housing units destroyed in Hurricane Ike.

The proposal has divided the island with critics arguing the development would cripple the housing market and proponents arguing the need for a change in traditional public housing.

“There is a pretty good track record for mixed finance,” Russ said. “It depends on the quality of housing, the experience of the developer and how well the design integrates into the neighborhood it’s being built in.”

But before the housing authority can transfer ownership of the former public housing sites to the master developer, the department of housing will have to approve the plan, Russ said, and the developer, McCormack Baron Salazar, will have to use the housing authority policies in its management of public housing units, she added.

About 1,800 people are on the waiting list for public housing, according to a fact sheet provided at the meeting.

There are only five vacancies at public housing units already in place on the island, such as Gulf Breeze, 1211 21st St.

Another 2,279 people are on the waiting list for the Housing Choice Voucher program, which allows families to choose a rental unit “anywhere there is a housing authority” and pay a percentage of their rent, Russ said.

As of July, about 600 families of about 1,500 are living on the island but the number could change once eligible participants in the Disaster Housing Assistance Program are transferred to the Housing Choice Voucher program.