Tenants Group Urges Berkeley To Save Housing Authority

Rally Slams Housing Authority Leaders

[[[Lynda Carson, founder of the community group, said her confidence in Berkeley Housing Director Stephen Barton is further diminished by discrepancies between his oral and written versions of evaluation results.]]]

BY Amanda Ott
Contributing Writer

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Upset with the operation of the Berkeley Housing Authority, a group of Berkeley residents rallied yesterday evening to call for drastic organizational changes.

The protest was organized by the community activist group Save Berkeley Housing Authority, which members said was formed after four years of mismanagement within the city's housing authority.

Since 2002, the authority has been rated as "threatened" by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development due to low scores on self-evaluations of the city's federally funded public-housing programs.

But some tenants of the programs said they were only recently informed of the authority's rating.

"The protest has a lot to do with calling for the involvement of the citizenry," said Eleanor Walden, a member of Save Berkeley Housing Authority.

A score above 60 percent is required for "standard" status, and a lower score may allow HUD to consolidate the agency with housing departments of nearby cities.

Protesters demanded Berkeley maintain control of the authority, replenish funding shortfalls and replace the agency's management.

Lynda Carson, founder of the community group, said her confidence in Berkeley Housing Director Stephen Barton is further diminished by discrepancies between his oral and written versions of evaluation results.

Barton could not be reached yesterday for comment as he is on vacation this week.

In a report publicly broadcast on community radio station KPFA, Barton is heard citing a 61 percent pass rate, while the report submitted to HUD cites a 67 percent score.

"We believe it may be time for Barton to consider resigning from housing authority, because as director for four years he has not been able to pull it out of being (classified as) a troubled agency," she said.

Sharon Jackson, Barton's predecessor as housing authority manager, resigned last January. She announced the decision at a special city council meeting called to discuss claims that agency officials may have inaccurately reported tenant re-certification data.

Both Barton and City Councilmember Kriss Worthington said city officials are at fault for problems with the authority while meeting with a group of residents.

Worthington said he has still not received an answer about the numerical discrepancy and said he recognizes the necessity of changes to the agency. "The housing authority meeting lasts about 10 minutes and that is not a demonstration to doing due diligence of the supervision of the housing authority," he said.

Walden attributes the increased awareness of the council members to the four previous protests the community housing organization has held.

"Some of the city council (members) have said they weren't so aware of how desperate this situation is," she said.
Contact Amanda Ott at aott [at] dailycal.org

http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=21450

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---September 19, BHA Agenda---

Includes mention of petitions submitted by Bonnie Davidson...
Retain the Berkeley Housing Authority
1. Petition containing 35 signatures submitted by Bonnie Davidson
2. Petition containing 26 additional signatures submitted by Bonnie Davidson

[Agenda fails to mention petition with 115 signatures turned in by Lynda Carson]

Click below for Sept. 19, BHA agenda...

http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/housingauthority/2006housingauthority/packet/091906/09-19a-bha.htm

Click below for BHA Agendas, Summaries and Video Archive...

http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/housingauthority/#current

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Street Spirit: Justice News&Homeless Blues
[Save BHA Pressures Berkeley City Officials]
Originally, the tenant's group known as Save Berkeley Housing Authority ... read in the Berkeley Daily Planet that Section 8 contracts in Berkeley are soon ...

http://www.thestreetspirit.org/Sept2006/berkeley.htm

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City Officials Take Blame for Housing Authority Mess
By Riya Bhattacharjee (08-29-06)

Members of the Save Berkeley Housing Authority (Save BHA), low-income Berkeley residents and city officials got together at the South Berkeley Senior Center on Saturday to discuss the future of public housing and the Section 8 program in Berkeley.

Click below for full story...

http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?archiveDate=08-29-06&storyID=24958

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Berkeley News
Citizens Rally for Ailing City Housing Authority Suzanne La Barre, Berkeley Daily Planet, page 1, 7/14/2006. A rally to save Berkeley’s troubled Housing ...

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Berkeley Daily Planet
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Berkeley News
Eleanor Walden, Berkeley Daily Planet, page 9, 8/1/2006 ... Committee to Save Berkeley Housing Authority, with Councilmember Spring, initiated that meeting. ...

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July 11 Berkeley City Hall Section 8/Public Housing Rally : Indybay
... JOIN BERKELEY'S CITIZENS TO SAVE THE BERKELEY HOUSING AUTHORITY & IT'S SECTION 8 & PUBLIC HOUSING ... control of the Berkeley Housing Authority! Support Public Housing & the Section ...
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Berkeley Daily Planet
The members of Save Berkeley Housing Authority (Save BHA) offer our gratitude and thanks to the Berkeley Daily Planet for covering the issue of the troubled ...

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The Daily Californian
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Commentary: Saving the Berkeley Housing Authority Eleanor Walden, Berkeley Daily Planet, page 9, 8/1/2006. Suzanne La Barre wrote an interesting report on ...

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Berkeley Daily Planet
If the Berkeley Housing Authority fails to meet HUD’s standards, the agency could fold into ... agenda,” Frances Hailman called out to cheering protesters. ...

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by Save Berkeley Housing Authority Wednesday Sep 13th, 2006 1:53 PM. Community Members gear up for another event to Save the Berkeley Housing Authority! ...

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Berkeley City Manager Takes Control Of Tenant’s Event
Lynda Carson, http://www.indybay.org, 8/15/2006

Berkeley - In a stunning double-cross of local housing activists, Berkeley City Manager Phil Kamlarz grabbed control of a scheduled August 26, tenants meeting, that was organized to help save the Berkeley Housing Authority, and has replaced it with his own meeting and agenda.

http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/news/print.asp?id=17594

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Save The Berkeley Housing Authority Petition
To: Berkeley City Council. Petition To Save The Berkeley Housing Authority ... by Members of Save Berkeley Housing Authority and written by Lynda Carson ...

http://www.petitiononline.com/SaveBHA/petition.html

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Berkeley Daily Planet
“The crisis with the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) is that all of us who are ... lose the guaranteed funding,” said Linda Carson, a Section 8 recipient. ...

http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/text/article.cfm?issue=07-11-06&storyID=24587 - 13k - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com ]

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Berkeley News
Letter to the Editor: Political Shenanigans in Berkeley ... In the notice, there’s no mention that the Berkeley Housing Authority is in a crisis; ...

http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/news/print.asp?id=17672 - 13k - Cached - Similar pages

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Berkeley Daily Planet
“The crisis with the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) is that all of us who are ... Citizens Press to Save Control of Housing Authority By Suzanne La Barre ...

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Berkeley News
Letter to the Editor: Housing Authority Lynda Carson, Berkeley Daily Planet, 9/12/2006. Editors, Daily Planet: The members of Save Berkeley Housing ...

http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/news/print.asp?id=17837

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Berkeley Daily Planet
Members of the Save Berkeley Housing Authority (Save BHA), ... The Rise and Fall Of the City of Paper By Joe Eaton, Special to the Planet ...

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[PDF] CONSENT CALENDAR September 19, 2006 To: Honorable Chairperson and ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
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The Daily Californian
BY Eleanor Walden. Monday, July 10, 2006. The current movement to save the Berkeley Housing Authority from crisis is an opportunity for a coalition of ...

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An Uncertain Future For Berkeley's Section 8 Tenants : Indybay
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“The crisis with the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) is that all of us who are seniors, disabled, low-income people are threatened,” said Eleanor Walden, ...

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Street Spirit: Justice News&Homeless Blues
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Berkeley
Here you will find latest news about berkeley ... 19- 6pm Event: To Save Berkeley Housing Authority. Bay Area Indymedia, CA - 17 hours ago. by Save Berkeley Housing Authority. The Berkeley ...

http://collectionsboot.com/berkeley.html [Found on Yahoo! Search]