Commissioner Murman quoted in this Times article on Homeless Recovery:
Hillsborough official: 200 live in squalor paid for by public
By Will Hobson and Bill Varian, Times Staff Writers
Wednesday, September 18, 2013 2:25pm
TAMPA — Former Tampa Port Authority Chairman William “Hoe” Brown isn’t the only landlord who got county money to house the poor in substandard living conditions.
There still are about 200 people receiving public rental assistance through HillsboroughCounty’s Homeless Recovery agency while living in unacceptable housing, County Administrator Mike Merrill told commissioners Wednesday.
“It’s systemic,” Merrill said of problems plaguing the county agency.
Commissioners voted to have the county’s internal auditor examine Homeless Recovery, which had sent clients and more than $600,000 to Brown since 1998, the Tampa Bay Times reported Sept. 8.
Brown, a prominent Republican fundraiser, resigned as port chairman in July after several Times articles about squalid conditions and criminal activity in a makeshift mobile home park and extended-stay motel next to his SeminoleHeights office.
While Homeless Recovery managers denied referring clients to Brown, hundreds of emails showed the agency routinely sent clients to Brown for years.
County officials said they were unable Wednesday to produce a list of the other properties housing Homeless Recovery clients in poor conditions.
“It’s not something I want this organization to stand for,” Merrill said of the county subsidizing inhumane living conditions. “We will correct this.”
That correction could mean farming out the rental assistance program to nonprofits, Merrill said. Monday, he met with representatives from several nonprofits to discuss how to improve operations for Homeless Recovery, which has an annual budget of about $1.2 million, more than $800,000 of it in county money.
“They clearly are turning the ship in the right direction,” Tim Marks, president of Metropolitan Ministries, said Wednesday.
Merrill outlined for commissioners other changes made to Homeless Recovery. Its manager, Jim Silverwood, resigned Sept. 9. Silverwood’s supervisor, Sam Walthour, submitted a letter of resignation last week, then retracted it. He was fired Friday, county spokeswoman Lori Hudson said.
While Walthour and Silverwood told the Times that Homeless Recovery didn’t have the funding to inspect properties where its clients live, Merrill said they never told that to him.
“Prior management had numerous opportunities to tell me they needed additional resources,” Merrill said. “We needed a completely different direction.”
Commissioners praised Merrill’s quick action while assailing the treatment of some of the county’s most vulnerable residents.
Commissioner Kevin Beckner called it “indefensible” for county tax dollars to pay for the poor to live in “deplorable conditions.”
“This issue is not only troubling, it is to me personally an embarrassment,” added Commissioner Al Higginbotham.
Commissioner Sandra Murman said she hopes something good can come from the audit. “I think we have an opportunity to turn this black eye around and be a real shining star,” she said.
Wednesday’s meeting provided the first public discussion of Homeless Recovery by county officials, several of whom have declined repeated requests for interviews by the Times during the last two weeks. Among those who have not returned calls: Ven Thomas, the department director who formerly oversaw Homeless Recovery; Paula Harvey, the new department director overseeing the agency; commission Chairman Ken Hagan; and Commissioner Mark Sharpe.
Brown’s name was not mentioned at the meeting Wednesday. The GOP fundraiser has donated money to all five Republican county commissioners, election records show. He gave Hagan $1,000 combined over two campaigns; $250 to Murman in 2010; $1,500 combined over two campaigns to Higginbotham; $250 to Victor Crist in 2010; and $1,750 over three campaigns to Sharpe.
Before the discussion ended, Murman consoled Thomas, the department director who no longer oversees Homeless Recovery.
“These things happen,” she said. “Just look at this as a building block to where we’re going to go in the future.”
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Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tribune article on enterprise zones:
Hillsborough leaders divided on stretching USF enterprise zone
By Mike Salinero | Tribune Staff
Published: September 18, 2013
TAMPA — A proposal to stretch a redevelopment area around the University of South Florida all the way down to southern HillsboroughCounty is creating friction on the county commission.
A proposed amendment to the boundaries of the University Area Enterprise Zone would extend its borders to include PalmRiver and Gibsonton, according to county commissioners who have seen the maps. The enterprise zone now encompasses 3.1 square miles bordered by Fowler and Bearss avenues, Interstate 275 and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. Up to three noncontiguous areas can be added to an existing enterprise zone as long the total area isn’t more than 20 square miles.
The state government designates enterprise zones based on the median family income in an area. The zones are intended create jobs in blighted, economically disadvantaged areas. The University Area Enterprise Zone was created in February 2003.
CountyCommissioner Victor Crist, who, as a state legislator sponsored the bill to create the enterprise zone in the University Area, said he opposes enlarging the boundaries, especially pushing them down into south county. A larger area would dilute the amount of money the zone gets from the state, he said.
“Those dollars haven’t changed in years at the state level,” Crist said. He compared enlarging the boundaries to take in south county to “dropping a drop of chlorine in a 60,000 gallon pool.”
Crist blamed the proposed boundary changes on unnamed single-member district commissioners who want resources from the University Area Enterprise Zone to benefit their constituents. The commissioners who represent Palm River and south county are Les Miller and Sandy Murman.
“There are two options: go back to the state and get new legislation to create a new enterprise zone — that’s hard to do — or expand current enterprise zones in areas where you want to do it,” Crist said. “This should have been done as a separate enterprise zone altogether.”
Murman, who favors the new borders, said she explored the possibility of creating a new enterprise zone in Gibsonton and Ruskin, but the median family income there wasn’t low enough.
“I think we need to be very careful of concentrating all our resources in one area,” Murman said. “I think it’s important to look at the big picture, the whole county, and make sure all impoverished areas have the opportunity to have development and services.”
The county is planning community meetings on the proposal in the University Area, PalmRiver, Gibsonton and the 56th Street area, according to an e-mail sent Tuesday by Lynn Schultz, a member of the county Economic Development Department.
Schultz said a legal advertisement outlining the proposed boundary amendment was to be published in today’s edition of The Tampa Tribune. The matter will go to the county commission Dec. 18, Schultz said.
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Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tribune article on Homeless Recovery program:
Social services director fired
By Mike Salinero | Tribune Staff
Published: September 19, 2013
TAMPA — Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill continued his shake up of the county’s Homeless Recovery Program this week in the wake of a scandal that saw hundreds of homeless clients referred to substandard housing.
Merrill told county commissioners Wednesday he had fired Sam Walthour, director of the county’s social services division, which included Homeless Recovery. Last week, the homeless program’s manager, James Silverwood, resigned under pressure.
Walthour, who was making $100,651 a year, could not be reached for comment.
The men’s departure followed the disclosure earlier this month that the county had paid more than $625,000 to Republican fundraiser and former Tampa Port Authority chairman William “Hoe” Brown to house homeless clients in rundown apartments.
Though the program is still being investigated, Merrill said it was apparent “most clients were being placed in substandard housing.” He blamed poor leadership and a lack of effective policies and procedures for the suffering endured by many county clients.
“That clearly was not something that I approve of; it’s not something that I want this organization to stand for,” Merrill said. “So I do apologize to those clients and to the community for that.”
Merrill said he has ordered the county’s internal auditor to investigate Homeless Recovery and other rental assistance programs for fraud and other abuses. Meantime, code enforcement officers are checking rental properties the program used to ensure they are up to code.
“We’ll have a good clean list to start from,” Merrill said after the meeting.
The county also doubled the amount of money that will go toward a month’s rent for a family of four to $1,200. Most of the money comes from county property taxes.
The Homeless Recovery Program is now operating under the Affordable Housing department, but Merrill said he’d like to see the county quit operating the program altogether. On Monday, he met with representatives of some of the county’s largest social service providers, including Metropolitan Ministries, Salvation Army, and the Homeless Coalition.
At some point, Merrill said, he will bring commissioners a plan to contract out homeless services to the private, nonprofit providers. As it does with other nonprofit organizations, the county would perform yearly audits of the agencies chosen to handle housing for the homeless.
Ideally, temporary housing would be one component of getting homeless people on their feet, said Commissioner Sandy Murman, who supports Merrill’s outsourcing plan. It should be incorporated with food, clothing, job training and other assistance, Murman said.
“This is the time for us to break out of our shell and go talk to these other people,” Murman said. “They’re the experts.”
Commissioners generally supported Merrill’s plans and complimented him for taking quick action to revamp the troubled homeless program. However, Commissioner Kevin Beckner said he wanted the internal auditor to widen the scope of her inquiry to include other county programs.
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