Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Mayor may have appointed commissioner to annihilate BHA's public housing program
A trail of documentation reveals that Berkeley's Mayor Tom Bates may have appointed an ICF International vice president to a four year term as the Chair Commissioner of the Berkeley Housing Authority, for the purpose to annihilate Berkeley's public housing program!
Mayor Tom Bates may have appointed BHA chair commissioner to annihilate Berkeley's public housing program
By Lynda Carson -- March 24, 2010
Berkeley - On or around December 31, 2009, the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) submitted an Inventory Removal Application to Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in an effort to terminate Berkeley's public housing program. HUD is expected to approve the BHA's plan to dispose of Berkeley's public housing units by early April.
Presently, there is a trail of documentation revealing that Mayor Tom Bates may have intentionally maneuvered an ICF International (ICFI) vice president, Carole Norris, directly into the position of chair commissioner of the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA), for the purpose to annihilate Berkeley's public housing program, and to initiate the process to sell Berkeley's public housing units to a local nonprofit housing developer.
During May 2007, Mayor Tom Bates appointed ICF International (ICFI) Carole Norris to a four-year term as the chairperson of the BHA's Board of Commissioners where she remains so today, despite the fact that she is still a vice president and consultant with ICFI, providing consultations and services to local city governments that are interested in disposing of their public housing properties, or consulting them on how to conduct urban renewal projects in Bay Area low-income communities, displacing thousands from their homes and communities in the process.
According to sources, Mayor Tom Bates knew ICFI's Carole Norris long before appointing her as chair person of the BHA, and knew what her expertise and consulting activities were all about. ICF International is a huge consulting corporation, that is heavily dependent on tens of millions of dollars, in government contracts.
For more on ICF International vice president, Carole Norris, click here; http://www.sfbayview.com/2010/berkeley-housing-authority’s-shady-operations/
After getting herself appointed to the BHA's board in 2007, ICFI / chair person Norris later directed to have herself appointed into new a subcommittee that she needed to create for the purpose of disposing of Berkeley's public housing units. It was named the LIPH Feasibility Committee, and a resolution was passed by Norris and the rest of the BHA board, appointing chair Norris, Commissioners Val Agostinos, and Adolph Moody to the new LIPH sub committee, during May, 2009. LIPH stands for low-income public housing.
During an August 17, 2009, LIPH subcommittee reposition meeting discussing the proposed disposition application to sell Berkeley's public housing units, it was mentioned that they still needed an on-site local project manager to serve as a liaison between Praxis Consultants and BHA's executive director Tia Ingram, to ensure coordination with the LIPH repositioning committee, and to manage the resident engagement process.
ICFI / Norris and her LIPH subcommittee needed the on-site project manager to engage it's public housing residents in the process of relocation and eviction (forced displacement from their homes), before the BHA's disposition scheme could move forward in the effort to sell Berkeley's public housing units to one or more local developers.
It was also on August 17, 2009, that the LIPH subcommittee recommended that the BHA should hire a consultant versus a BHA staff person for the project managers position, and consultants Norma Thompson, Ann Dunn, Durelle Ali, Lauren Brewer, and Danny Fred were mentioned as being interested in the position.
Present at the August 17th meeting, was BHA's director Tia Ingram, Val Agostino, Adolph Moody, Jennifer Bell, Charlie Pick, and BHA's consultants Eric Novak and Scott Jepsen (via telephone), and action was taken by Tia Ingram to provide the hours needed for a project manager to the City Manager, with copy of a resolution indicating the boards authorization to modify salary, without further board action being needed.
It's most notable that EJP/Praxis Consultants (Erik Novak and Scott Jepsen) were not hired by the BHA until April of 2009, to come up with a strategic plan and recommendations to dispose of Berkeley's public housing units.
Why it's notable is because even though it was discussed that a project manager was still needed during the August 17, 2009, LIPH meeting, documents reveal that as early as December 15, 2008, ICFI / BHA chair Norris had directed the BHA board to vote on hiring a project manager, which was 4 months earlier than when EJP/Praxis consultants were hired to come up with a strategic plan to dispose of Berkeley's public housing units.
The documentation appears to reveal that on Dec. 15, 2008, ICFI / chair Norris was already making her moves to dispose of Berkeley's public housing units, long before the BHA's high priced consultants were hired during April 2009, by the BHA.
In another move, during October 2009, the BHA hired Overland, Pacific and Cutler to provide part-time project management and relocation services throughout the disposition process, as part of the process to displace BHA's public housing residents, and dispose of Berkeley's public housing units.
The disposition requirements state that resident consultation is required at both the development level, at the housing authority-wide level, and with the Resident Advisory Board (RAB).
However, in a further effort to bamboozle Berkeley's public housing residents into giving up their rights as public housing tenants and to go along with the proposed disposition plan, during a January 14, 2010, LIPH feasibility subcommittee it was recommended that a Planning Committee needs to be developed to include 3 BHA board members, current public housing residents, a City Council Member, a City Housing Dept. staffer, one social service provider, BOCAH (clergy community), and the legal community such as National Housing Law Project and / or East Bay Community Law Center. A list of talking points was also provided at the meeting to use when Berkeley's public housing residents start asking why are they being displaced from their long-time housing, or community. In addition, it was mentioned again that they still need to hire a project manager on a consultancy basis to manage the process Feasibility Committee, and that they need the help of BHA consultants Scott Jepsen and Eric Novak (EJP/PRAXIS consultants). Present at this Jan. 14 LIPH meeting was BHA chair Carole Norris (ICFI), Valerie Agostino, Adolph Moody, and Rachel Gonzales-Levine.
Berkeley's public housing residents are expected to start receiving 90 Day Notices sometime in early April, forcing many of them out of their homes by eviction or relocation during July 2010, and additionally in July the BHA is expected to execute a Disposition and Development Agreement between the BHA and a selected affordable housing developer, or developers.
According to the strategic plan prepared by EJP Consulting for the BHA, It is a federal requirement that when the disposition application was filed with HUD during December of 2010, the BHA was required to list the names of the developers on the disposition application, that are prepared to buy Berkeley's public housing units after the public housing program is terminated, by Norris, the BHA and the city.
It sounds like a done deal, though ICFI / chair Norris has stated otherwise. During a Nov. 23, 2009, meeting, ICFI / chair Norris stated that the inventory removal application being filed with HUD to dispose of Berkeley's public housing units just opens the door, and that there is no requirement to move forward even if HUD approves the application.
By the time ICFI / chair Norris made that comical remark in November 2009, it was barely 5 whole months earlier during June of 2009, that the City of Berkeley set aside $700,000 in Housing Trust Funds, as a way to support the plan to dispose of Berkeley's public housing units and sell them to a local developer, in addition to receiving and adopting the recommendations by EJP's high priced consultants and their strategic plan to dispose of Berkeley's 75 public housing units, including the disposition timeline process provided by EJP in their final July 2009 report to the BHA, and lets not forget how the BHA has already procured Overland, Pacific & Cutler (OPC) to provide part-time project management and relocation consulting services throughout the disposition process, in an effort to displace Berkeley's long-time public housing residents from their homes.
If the current scheme to kill Berkeley's public housing program succeeds, the BHA plans to transfer Berkeley's public housing units to a local developer, during March 2011.
Additionally, the developers are expected to complete the renovation of their new housing sites (former public housing buildings) by December 2011, if the scheme to terminate Berkeley's public housing program is allowed to occur.
Many of Berkeley's public housing residents do not believe that they will ever be able to return once they are displaced from their existing public housing units, and do not trust the BHA to keep any promises offering them the opportunity to move back, after they are displaced from their long-time public housing, and new owners take control.
Efforts to reach City Council Members Jesse Arreguin and Kris Worthington were made before this article was published, but neither of them were available.
Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com
See the disposition process timeline directly below that ICFI / chair Norris had a copy of when she stated that the inventory removal application being filed with HUD to dispose of Berkeley's public housing units just opens the door, and that there is no requirement to move forward even if HUD approves the application.
Berkeley Housing Authority
LIPH and RHCP Rental Housing Disposition Process
Timeline
April 2009 Completed Capital Needs Assessment of BHA Portfolio (Basis
Architects). Documented need for approximately $4.5 million in
hard cost to repair and modernize 75 LIPH and RHCP units.
April 2009 3x3 Committee Meeting
June 2009 City of Berkeley set aside $700,000 in Housing Trust Funds in
order to support the redevelopment of the LIPH/RHCP portfolio
under a new ownership structure.
July 2009 Completed LIPH/RHCP Strategic Plan (EJP Consulting)
recommending disposition of LIPH/RHCP portfolio to an
affordable housing developer and project-basing of the units.
July 2009 BHA Board adopts recommendations of LIPH/RHCP Strategic
Plan. Votes to proceed with Disposition application to HUD.
October 2009 BHA procures Overland, Pacific & Cutler (OPC) to provide part-
time project management and relocation consulting services
throughout the Disposition process.
November 2009 BHA and OPC provide General Information Notice (GIN) to
residents in LIPH and RHCP housing notifying them of their
rights under the Federal and state relocation regulations. BHA
and OPC also carry out informational meetings with residents
and with the legal aid community.
November 2009 3x3 Committee Meeting
November 2009 Meet with BUSD to discuss potential transfer or reissue of long-
term leases for Ward St. and Francisco St. properties under
disposition plan.
November 2009 Draft Inventory Removal Application available for public review.
December 2009 Additional consultation with residents, local government and
legal aid community regarding draft Inventory Removal
Application.
December 17, 2009 BHA Board votes on approval to submit Inventory Removal
Application to HUD Special Applications Center (SAC). Submit
application.
December 31, 2009 HUD deadline per Memorandum of Agreement with BHA to
submit Inventory Removal Application to HUD.
Berkeley Housing Authority page 2 of 2
LIPH and RHCP Rental Housing Disposition Process
January 2010 BHA Board revisits goals for disposition, relocation, and resident
and community involvement. Develops “charge” to Planning
Committee.
February 2010 First Planning Committee meeting.
February 2010 (approx) BHA releases Developer Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to
purchase, renovate and operate LIPH/RHCP portfolio as
affordable rental housing.
February 2010 (approx) Begin negotiations with California Departments of Housing and
Community Development (HCD) to refinance RCHP debt and
transfer ownership to selected developer.
April 2010 (approx) HUD approval of Inventory Removal Application.
April 2010 (approx) Complete Resident Relocation Plan. Issue 90-Day Notice to
Vacate to households who do not want to return, post-
rehabilitation, or who, because of income or family size, will not
be able to return.
April 2010 (approx) Submit application to HUD for Replacement Housing Choice
Vouchers.
July 2010 (approx) Execute Disposition and Development Agreement (DDA)
between BHA and selected affordable housing developer or
developers.
July 2010 – March 2011 Carry out relocation of residents who do not want to return,
(approx) or who, because of income or family size, will not be able to
return to rehabilitated housing.
March 2011 (approx.) Developer(s) closes on the construction financing. LIPH/RHCP
properties transfer from BHA to selected developer. BHA enters
into HCV Agreement to Enter into Housing Assistance Payment
(AHAP) contract with developer.
March – December 2011 Developer(s) carries out rehabilitation of 75 units.
(approx) Existing residents who choose to stay receive temporary
relocation assistance during the renovation or move directly to
newly renovated units.
December 2011 Renovation complete. Execute Project-Based Housing Choice
Voucher HAP contract.
December 2011 (approx) Project complete.
By Lynda Carson -- March 24, 2010
Berkeley - On or around December 31, 2009, the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) submitted an Inventory Removal Application to Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in an effort to terminate Berkeley's public housing program. HUD is expected to approve the BHA's plan to dispose of Berkeley's public housing units by early April.
Presently, there is a trail of documentation revealing that Mayor Tom Bates may have intentionally maneuvered an ICF International (ICFI) vice president, Carole Norris, directly into the position of chair commissioner of the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA), for the purpose to annihilate Berkeley's public housing program, and to initiate the process to sell Berkeley's public housing units to a local nonprofit housing developer.
During May 2007, Mayor Tom Bates appointed ICF International (ICFI) Carole Norris to a four-year term as the chairperson of the BHA's Board of Commissioners where she remains so today, despite the fact that she is still a vice president and consultant with ICFI, providing consultations and services to local city governments that are interested in disposing of their public housing properties, or consulting them on how to conduct urban renewal projects in Bay Area low-income communities, displacing thousands from their homes and communities in the process.
According to sources, Mayor Tom Bates knew ICFI's Carole Norris long before appointing her as chair person of the BHA, and knew what her expertise and consulting activities were all about. ICF International is a huge consulting corporation, that is heavily dependent on tens of millions of dollars, in government contracts.
For more on ICF International vice president, Carole Norris, click here; http://www.sfbayview.com/2010/berkeley-housing-authority’s-shady-operations/
After getting herself appointed to the BHA's board in 2007, ICFI / chair person Norris later directed to have herself appointed into new a subcommittee that she needed to create for the purpose of disposing of Berkeley's public housing units. It was named the LIPH Feasibility Committee, and a resolution was passed by Norris and the rest of the BHA board, appointing chair Norris, Commissioners Val Agostinos, and Adolph Moody to the new LIPH sub committee, during May, 2009. LIPH stands for low-income public housing.
During an August 17, 2009, LIPH subcommittee reposition meeting discussing the proposed disposition application to sell Berkeley's public housing units, it was mentioned that they still needed an on-site local project manager to serve as a liaison between Praxis Consultants and BHA's executive director Tia Ingram, to ensure coordination with the LIPH repositioning committee, and to manage the resident engagement process.
ICFI / Norris and her LIPH subcommittee needed the on-site project manager to engage it's public housing residents in the process of relocation and eviction (forced displacement from their homes), before the BHA's disposition scheme could move forward in the effort to sell Berkeley's public housing units to one or more local developers.
It was also on August 17, 2009, that the LIPH subcommittee recommended that the BHA should hire a consultant versus a BHA staff person for the project managers position, and consultants Norma Thompson, Ann Dunn, Durelle Ali, Lauren Brewer, and Danny Fred were mentioned as being interested in the position.
Present at the August 17th meeting, was BHA's director Tia Ingram, Val Agostino, Adolph Moody, Jennifer Bell, Charlie Pick, and BHA's consultants Eric Novak and Scott Jepsen (via telephone), and action was taken by Tia Ingram to provide the hours needed for a project manager to the City Manager, with copy of a resolution indicating the boards authorization to modify salary, without further board action being needed.
It's most notable that EJP/Praxis Consultants (Erik Novak and Scott Jepsen) were not hired by the BHA until April of 2009, to come up with a strategic plan and recommendations to dispose of Berkeley's public housing units.
Why it's notable is because even though it was discussed that a project manager was still needed during the August 17, 2009, LIPH meeting, documents reveal that as early as December 15, 2008, ICFI / BHA chair Norris had directed the BHA board to vote on hiring a project manager, which was 4 months earlier than when EJP/Praxis consultants were hired to come up with a strategic plan to dispose of Berkeley's public housing units.
The documentation appears to reveal that on Dec. 15, 2008, ICFI / chair Norris was already making her moves to dispose of Berkeley's public housing units, long before the BHA's high priced consultants were hired during April 2009, by the BHA.
In another move, during October 2009, the BHA hired Overland, Pacific and Cutler to provide part-time project management and relocation services throughout the disposition process, as part of the process to displace BHA's public housing residents, and dispose of Berkeley's public housing units.
The disposition requirements state that resident consultation is required at both the development level, at the housing authority-wide level, and with the Resident Advisory Board (RAB).
However, in a further effort to bamboozle Berkeley's public housing residents into giving up their rights as public housing tenants and to go along with the proposed disposition plan, during a January 14, 2010, LIPH feasibility subcommittee it was recommended that a Planning Committee needs to be developed to include 3 BHA board members, current public housing residents, a City Council Member, a City Housing Dept. staffer, one social service provider, BOCAH (clergy community), and the legal community such as National Housing Law Project and / or East Bay Community Law Center. A list of talking points was also provided at the meeting to use when Berkeley's public housing residents start asking why are they being displaced from their long-time housing, or community. In addition, it was mentioned again that they still need to hire a project manager on a consultancy basis to manage the process Feasibility Committee, and that they need the help of BHA consultants Scott Jepsen and Eric Novak (EJP/PRAXIS consultants). Present at this Jan. 14 LIPH meeting was BHA chair Carole Norris (ICFI), Valerie Agostino, Adolph Moody, and Rachel Gonzales-Levine.
Berkeley's public housing residents are expected to start receiving 90 Day Notices sometime in early April, forcing many of them out of their homes by eviction or relocation during July 2010, and additionally in July the BHA is expected to execute a Disposition and Development Agreement between the BHA and a selected affordable housing developer, or developers.
According to the strategic plan prepared by EJP Consulting for the BHA, It is a federal requirement that when the disposition application was filed with HUD during December of 2010, the BHA was required to list the names of the developers on the disposition application, that are prepared to buy Berkeley's public housing units after the public housing program is terminated, by Norris, the BHA and the city.
It sounds like a done deal, though ICFI / chair Norris has stated otherwise. During a Nov. 23, 2009, meeting, ICFI / chair Norris stated that the inventory removal application being filed with HUD to dispose of Berkeley's public housing units just opens the door, and that there is no requirement to move forward even if HUD approves the application.
By the time ICFI / chair Norris made that comical remark in November 2009, it was barely 5 whole months earlier during June of 2009, that the City of Berkeley set aside $700,000 in Housing Trust Funds, as a way to support the plan to dispose of Berkeley's public housing units and sell them to a local developer, in addition to receiving and adopting the recommendations by EJP's high priced consultants and their strategic plan to dispose of Berkeley's 75 public housing units, including the disposition timeline process provided by EJP in their final July 2009 report to the BHA, and lets not forget how the BHA has already procured Overland, Pacific & Cutler (OPC) to provide part-time project management and relocation consulting services throughout the disposition process, in an effort to displace Berkeley's long-time public housing residents from their homes.
If the current scheme to kill Berkeley's public housing program succeeds, the BHA plans to transfer Berkeley's public housing units to a local developer, during March 2011.
Additionally, the developers are expected to complete the renovation of their new housing sites (former public housing buildings) by December 2011, if the scheme to terminate Berkeley's public housing program is allowed to occur.
Many of Berkeley's public housing residents do not believe that they will ever be able to return once they are displaced from their existing public housing units, and do not trust the BHA to keep any promises offering them the opportunity to move back, after they are displaced from their long-time public housing, and new owners take control.
Efforts to reach City Council Members Jesse Arreguin and Kris Worthington were made before this article was published, but neither of them were available.
Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com
See the disposition process timeline directly below that ICFI / chair Norris had a copy of when she stated that the inventory removal application being filed with HUD to dispose of Berkeley's public housing units just opens the door, and that there is no requirement to move forward even if HUD approves the application.
Berkeley Housing Authority
LIPH and RHCP Rental Housing Disposition Process
Timeline
April 2009 Completed Capital Needs Assessment of BHA Portfolio (Basis
Architects). Documented need for approximately $4.5 million in
hard cost to repair and modernize 75 LIPH and RHCP units.
April 2009 3x3 Committee Meeting
June 2009 City of Berkeley set aside $700,000 in Housing Trust Funds in
order to support the redevelopment of the LIPH/RHCP portfolio
under a new ownership structure.
July 2009 Completed LIPH/RHCP Strategic Plan (EJP Consulting)
recommending disposition of LIPH/RHCP portfolio to an
affordable housing developer and project-basing of the units.
July 2009 BHA Board adopts recommendations of LIPH/RHCP Strategic
Plan. Votes to proceed with Disposition application to HUD.
October 2009 BHA procures Overland, Pacific & Cutler (OPC) to provide part-
time project management and relocation consulting services
throughout the Disposition process.
November 2009 BHA and OPC provide General Information Notice (GIN) to
residents in LIPH and RHCP housing notifying them of their
rights under the Federal and state relocation regulations. BHA
and OPC also carry out informational meetings with residents
and with the legal aid community.
November 2009 3x3 Committee Meeting
November 2009 Meet with BUSD to discuss potential transfer or reissue of long-
term leases for Ward St. and Francisco St. properties under
disposition plan.
November 2009 Draft Inventory Removal Application available for public review.
December 2009 Additional consultation with residents, local government and
legal aid community regarding draft Inventory Removal
Application.
December 17, 2009 BHA Board votes on approval to submit Inventory Removal
Application to HUD Special Applications Center (SAC). Submit
application.
December 31, 2009 HUD deadline per Memorandum of Agreement with BHA to
submit Inventory Removal Application to HUD.
Berkeley Housing Authority page 2 of 2
LIPH and RHCP Rental Housing Disposition Process
January 2010 BHA Board revisits goals for disposition, relocation, and resident
and community involvement. Develops “charge” to Planning
Committee.
February 2010 First Planning Committee meeting.
February 2010 (approx) BHA releases Developer Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to
purchase, renovate and operate LIPH/RHCP portfolio as
affordable rental housing.
February 2010 (approx) Begin negotiations with California Departments of Housing and
Community Development (HCD) to refinance RCHP debt and
transfer ownership to selected developer.
April 2010 (approx) HUD approval of Inventory Removal Application.
April 2010 (approx) Complete Resident Relocation Plan. Issue 90-Day Notice to
Vacate to households who do not want to return, post-
rehabilitation, or who, because of income or family size, will not
be able to return.
April 2010 (approx) Submit application to HUD for Replacement Housing Choice
Vouchers.
July 2010 (approx) Execute Disposition and Development Agreement (DDA)
between BHA and selected affordable housing developer or
developers.
July 2010 – March 2011 Carry out relocation of residents who do not want to return,
(approx) or who, because of income or family size, will not be able to
return to rehabilitated housing.
March 2011 (approx.) Developer(s) closes on the construction financing. LIPH/RHCP
properties transfer from BHA to selected developer. BHA enters
into HCV Agreement to Enter into Housing Assistance Payment
(AHAP) contract with developer.
March – December 2011 Developer(s) carries out rehabilitation of 75 units.
(approx) Existing residents who choose to stay receive temporary
relocation assistance during the renovation or move directly to
newly renovated units.
December 2011 Renovation complete. Execute Project-Based Housing Choice
Voucher HAP contract.
December 2011 (approx) Project complete.
Add Your Comments
Latest Comments
Listed below are the latest comments about this post.
These comments are submitted anonymously by website visitors.
TITLE
AUTHOR
DATE
Update: Click here for link to BHA's inflated figures
Thu, Mar 25, 2010 11:32PM
BHA's inflated figures & contradictions
Thu, Mar 25, 2010 1:29PM
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$260.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network