MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – A dispute has broken out between the city of Mobile and the Mobile Housing Authority over an affordable housing project planned near the Oaklawn public housing complex.
The Mobile City Council on Tuesday considered a resolution to move $1.95 million in taxpayer funds to a project called Taylor Landing, which is next to Oaklawn. That is on top of $11.5 million that the city already approved last year.
The project will include 70 homes, including 69 available to current Oaklawn residents. It was billed as a partnership between the city and the Housing Authority, which was supposed to use federal vouchers to subsidize rents.
But the city now contends the Housing Authority used the wrong type of voucher, forcing the city to kick in the additional money. City officials said the money will subsidize the rents of low-income tenants who would have used the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development vouchers.
Jamey Roberts, the city’s senior director of neighborhood development, told FOX10 News that vouchers were key to ensuring that Oaklawn residents moving into the new units would not have to pay more than 30 percent of their incomes in rent.
“The voucher piece is very important to the city,” he said.
Win Yerby, president of Hollyhand Development – the developer for Taylor Landing – said his company has done about $300 million worth of public housing redevelopment across the state and has used the voucher process about a half-dozen times.
“It is doable, but you have to follow the process throughout. And our understanding … is that the Housing Authority did intend to do that but until the board actually acts formally on it, it’s not done,” he told council members during their pre-meeting conference.
The Housing Authority pushed back against that. The agency told FOX10 News that the city demanded that the authority “rush a process that requires public notice” and feedback from residents and others.
“It is unfortunate that a narrative is being spun to make the Mobile Housing Authority appear unwilling to serve as a catalyst for change in the Oaklawn community, when in reality, it has already gone above and beyond,” the agency said in a statement.
The authority added: “Until the truth is told publicly, it only makes sense for the Mobile Housing Authority and its affiliate entity to discontinue partnership attempts with parties that will mischaracterize what has transpired.”
Roberts said the city hopes HUD vouchers still might be applied to the project, which would allow rent increases. That money would be funneled back to Mobile to reimburse the city for the $1.95 million.
If the council approves the measure next week, the money will become available in October, and construction would start shortly after that. Construction is expected to last about 18 months.
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