LONG BRANCH — In the first four months of oversight, the Long Branch Housing Authority (LBHA) has decreased debt and increased resident satisfaction at Asbury Park public housing, according to the agency’s executive director.
“One of our goals is to try to rebuild the agency by taking small steps toward success and changing the dynamics of the operation of the housing authority there,” Tyrone Garrett said during an Oct. 26 conference call.
Garrett said better practices with staff and residents have been implemented since the LBHA became the interim manager of the financially troubled Asbury Park Housing Authority (APHA) in July.
“The Board of Commissioners have been very supportive and they clearly understand our moving forward in the direction that allows for the quality of life for the residents in the Asbury Park Housing Authority to improve,” he added.
The LBHA entered into a six-month contract, with an option for an additional six months, to assist the APHA, which had issues including vacant housing units and a leadership void.
One of the initiatives Garrett put in place in Asbury Park is a quarterly town hall meeting with residents at each of seven public housing sites, something he has done for 10 years in Long Branch.
“One of the things we do is to hold town hall meetings with the residents,” he said. “We go out and we talk with the residents, we tell them exactly what we are doing and how we are progressing.
“The residents are able to communicate with the administration and identify areas where we are not acting fast enough on some of their issues,” he added. “We are trying our best to show them we do have a commitment to move this forward.”
Garrett said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development initiated the agreement and he sends the agency monthly status reports.
One of the issues Garrett has already tackled is the growing debt of the APHA, something he said the LBHA has made a significant dent in.
“One of the big things we had to work on when we first went in was their debt,” he said. “Some of the things we did implement were practices on spending control, a hiring freeze and a possible staff reduction.
“The debt on July 1 was approximately $1.2 million, as of today I’m told it’s about $600,000,” he added. “We are going to keep chipping away at it going forward.”
Garrett said one of the contributing factors to the debt was that the authority was using operational funds for certain items that could have been allocated from capital funds for.
“We looked at some of the items that they were spending money on which we took off the board,” he said. “We just looked at their finances and there was probably money sitting in various budget lines that actually could have been used for some of their debt that they weren’t aware of or they just weren’t doing.
“We just went in and had a better observation of what was going on,” he added.
Under Garrett’s leadership, rent collection has risen from around 80 percent prior to the contract with the LBHA to approximately 94 percent in the past few months.
He went on to say the overall goal is to improve the image and operations of the authority.
“The credibility of the Asbury Park Housing Authority, by cutting down the debt, will allow everyone to have a little more confidence in what the housing authority and the board of commissioners are doing,” Garrett said.
“What the LBHA did was, we created an action plan and that action plan stands over the course of 12 months,” he added. “We broke it down into 90-day intervals.”
According to Garrett, during the first 90 days of the contract, the LBHA staff identified some of the protocols that needed to change at the authority.
He said this included staff training and identifying deficiencies with buildings and practices.
The first 90 days also saw site cleanings and landscaping improvements.
The initiatives for the second quarter included improving security measures and resident satisfaction.
“The biggest thing I heard from the residents was follow through,” Garrett said. “In the past they might have communicated with the administration and didn’t even get a response.
“We are changing that culture of the agency and we are letting people know you have to be responsive at all times even in a situation where you might need more assistance or more time,” he added. “It is best to always communicate with the resident.”
At the start of the third quarter in early 2013, Garrett said, the search for a permanent executive director will begin.
He said the final quarter will begin with the LBHA being phased out of the APHA.
“The fourth quarter will be that transition period where LBHA will begin to transition out of the agency and to allow the board of commissioners to operate independently,” Garrett said.
He went on to say while most of the work will be centered on finances and protocols, they will do a physical needs assessment and identify if any of the existing sites need to be demolished and redeveloped.
Under the terms of the contract, the LBHA will receive $11,275 a month in compensation.
According to Garrett, 10 to 12 LBHA employees spend a minimum of four hours per week working in Asbury Park.
According to the website, the APHA owns and operates seven public housing developments with a total of 589 public housing units.
The APHA has been in a state of flux since 2011, when the former executive director resigned. Since that time, the APHA has relied on part-time interim directors.
The Long Branch Housing Authority has allocated nearly $136 million in construction projects under Garrett’s lead, including Seaview Manor, Grant Court, Garfield Court I, Garfield Court II and the Adam “Bucky” James Community Center.
Plans and funding are also in place to demolish and replace the Woodrow Wilson homes and convert the former Gregory School into senior housing.
Earlier this year, Garrett was named to a three-year term at the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York Housing Council, a congressionally chartered organization that aims to provide a flexible credit liquidity source for member community lenders engaged in home mortgage and neighborhood lending.