The city’s bolstering of the Longmont Housing Authority has saved the agency hundreds of thousands of dollars and ensured residents have access to stable, low-income housing, the chair of the authority’s board of directors said this week in a letter to city council.
Cameron Grant said Mayor Brian Bagley wanted to know the value city staff provides to the agency, which has been struggling with management issues.
The housing authority in May entered into an intergovernmental agreement with the city. City Manager Harold Dominguez became executive director of the housing authority while several high-ranking city staff members were placed in key positions to help stabilize the agency.
“We wanted to help the authority pursue its mission of providing needed housing to our residents,” Dominquez said last month. “It seemed the right thing for the city to do.”
Grant said several events in the spring set the agency back in its attempt to become stronger. The hits included the state’s COVID-19 stay at home order, and the resignation of several top officials, including executive director Jillian Baldwin. Another setback was the loss of a key investor in the planned Aspen Meadows Apartments rehabilitation project, Grant said in his letter.
City staff members stepped in and immediately helped on many fronts, Grant said. The agency kept rents stable for its 1,300 residents and families, fully leased the new Fall River Apartments project, found a new investor and obtained approval of financing for the Aspen Meadows project.
The agency also has begun “the strategic evaluation and planning for a sustainable future for the LHA,” Grant said in the letter. “This was all made possible by our collaboration with the city.”
The LHA estimates it saved $196,160 that would have gone to fill seven vacant staff positions that are now being covered by city staff members, Grant said. City staff members also have logged 1,250 hours working on LHA matters, he said.
“Without knowing the employment details of each of the city personnel, we cannot attach a specific dollar value to that work; however, we can easily say that the value we are receiving far exceeds the budget that the LHA has available to pay for such work,” Grant said.
LHA residents, meanwhile, have been shielded from the management shifts at the agency. “Through this tumultuous time, our residents remain in high quality, safe and secure housing and are not feeling the impact of the administrative shifts at the LHA,” Grant said.
LHA and city officials are expected to present a permanent management plan to the city council in the next few months, Dominguez said last month.
