Despite constant maintenance issues, Ronesha Parker says that she and her daughter are literally breathing easier.
Earlier this summer, Parker and her neighbors living in Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority properties on S. 28th Street were temporarily moved into hotels while maintenance crews fixed mold and other longstanding issues. In August, Parker and her daughter were moved to another property on W. Braddock Road.
While the mold issues are gone, she says that it floods in her kitchen every time it rains, and that ARHA has been slow to address major maintenance issues.
“The air quality is better,” Parker told ALXnow. “My kitchen floods when it rains, and the studs are coming out of the foundation of the house. My bathtub creaks, and I almost feel I’m gonna fall through at some point. Water gets hot and cold, hot and cold, so there’s a lot of things.”
Parker was one of many residents who attended a meeting hosted by interim ARHA CEO Roy Priest at Charles Houston Recreation Center in Parker-Gray on Thursday night (Sept. 24). Priest told residents that ARHA is expanding its online portal for residents to make rent payments, file complaints and other paperwork. He also told residents that if they had specific issues they could be directed at the meeting to appropriate staffers.
Priest, who was CEO of Alexandria’s public housing authority from 2006 to 2017, started work on July 7 after the resignation of interim CEO Rickie Maddox. Priest will act as interim CEO for five or six months until the ARHA Board of Commissioners fills the permanent CEO position.
“We have the responsibility to ensure that you live in decent, safe and sanitary housing,” Priest told residents at the meeting. “Your obligation as residents is to what? Take care of the property, pay your rent on time.”
Priest told ALXnow that he returned to bring integrity back to the organization, and that it will take an experienced leader to effectively lead ARHA into the future. He also said that the search for a permanent CEO has officially started and should take up to six months. During that time, he said he’s working on submitting a budget to ARHA’s board by December and getting approval of the agency’s five-year strategic plan.
ARHA is under a hiring freeze, and all new hires must be approved by Priest. Soon after being hired, he reported that the agency lost $939,323 in retained earnings between May and June and spent about $423,370 more cash than it brought in during July.
Mayor Alyia Gaskins attended the meeting, and said that ARHA needs a complete culture change. Earlier this year, Gaskins led a fundraising effort with Alfred Street Baptist Church to pay off more than $1 million in back rent.
“I think there’s still more work to be done to achieve that,” Gaskins told ALXnow. “What I appreciated in tonight’s meeting is that Mr. Priest owned the issues that still exist, took steps to try to connect people to resources to get them addressed, while also acknowledging that there’s more work to do.”
ARHA’s internal tailspin started last summer, when its then-CEO Erik Johnson was fired for living in a public housing unit. The nine-member ARHA board then resigned, and the chair was replaced with former City Manager Mark Jinks. With a housing waitlist in the tens of thousands, the organization has since been challenged with high staff turnover, budget issues, reorganizing rent ledgers and a growing log of maintenance issues.
“My job, when they asked me to come back, was to make sure that whatever staff we have here works at a level of excellence,” Priest said.
Cassandra Lewis, the vice president of the ARHA Resident Association, says that the transition with ARHA’s 19 staffers, leadership and reorganizing is taking time.
“I like what Mr. Priest has done so far,” Lewis said. “He came in with a lot on his plate, but he’s doing well. It really takes time, but things are changing.”
