Letters to the Editor

To the Editor:

Shelterforce frequently criticizes mainstream media coverage of housing issues. It is all the more unfortunate, then, that Shelterforce simply picked up distorted media coverage of the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) in its "Shelter Shorts" item "Stripped of Duty" (Summer 2007).

The mainstream press gave extensive publicity to dramatic but unconfirmed statements by the Berkeley city attorney that the BHA had paid rent subsidies for dead people, and mistakenly reported that the entire staff had been fired. They reported the story that way because it validated negative stereotypes about government as incompetent and corrupt.

According to local legal-services attorneys, the "dead tenants" issue has to do with whether a poor adult child living with an elderly parent is entitled to keep the parent's voucher after the parent's death. The HUD rules governing this matter are complex, and enforcement of the rules can result in rendering the adult child homeless. The BHA had an obligation to enforce the rules, but due to internal disorganization, it made mistakes. The city attorney chose to criminalize inadequacies that resulted from conflict over rules that too often lack basic humanity.

News stories falsely stated that all BHA employees were fired, and since civil-service employees cannot be fired without an investigation, the stories implied that wrongdoing had been demonstrated. The city attorney made her claims to ensure that when the city transferred responsibility of the agency to an independent board, it would also cease to staff the agency. This was an end run around civil-service protections to eliminate employees considered problematic without having to investigate and demonstrate wrongdoing.

All affected employees were offered other positions with the city, and some were asked to return to BHA. Several turned down that request in anger over the negative portrayal of BHA staff. In the wake of the firestorm, the city manager decided that a public sacrifice was needed and asked me to resign as housing director.

The rent board and the city council-appointed Housing Advisory Commission have both asked for a neutral third-party investigation because they do not find the city attorney's claims convincing. I look forward to this investigation, but I know that its results will never receive the distribution given to this story.

After my resignation, the mayor of Berkeley presented me with a formal proclamation of appreciation for my excellent service to the City of Berkeley, as did the independently elected Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board, so it is safe to say that many people involved in housing issues in Berkeley have a different perspective from the city attorney about my work.

There is a real story to the difficulties of the BHA, but it remains to be told. After the investigations are completed, perhaps Shelterforce can revisit it.