Housing Authority wants to beef up public housing security

By Arthur E. Foulkes
The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE June 30, 2008 11:54 pm

— The Terre Haute Housing Authority board of directors wants to improve security at the many public housing units in the city.
Board member Patricia Parker-Zaikovsky agreed to work with Housing Authority staffers to find ways to improve security at Housing Authority sites, which serve around 2,000 low-income families.
“We are losing our seniors by the droves [from moving],” Parker-Zaikovsky said at the board’s monthly meeting Monday night. “I just think we need to do something to help those people,” she said.
Board members and members of the Housing Authority staff discussed security concerns at all Housing Authority communities, but focused especially on Garfield Towers, a 156-unit housing high rise on the city’s north side.
One common problem recently has been people pulling the fire alarms or discharging fire extinguishers, said Tim Buddle, director of maintenance for the Housing Authority. There also has been vandalism to walls and furniture in the buildings, he said.
“It’s something we have a responsibility to address,” said Tom Hunt, the board president. Hunt said Parker-Zaikovsky and staff members can act immediately to install security cameras in troubled areas.
While the problem may be worse in Garfield Towers, there are security concerns at all of the city’s public housing communities, staff members at the meeting said.
While Garfield Towers may have been built as a senior housing facility, staff members are not allowed to deny housing to people on account of age, a staff member said. Many recent applicants for housing are young people with a proven disability, she said.
Monday night also was the first board meeting for the Housing Authority’s new executive director, Jeff Stewart. Stewart, a former officer with Terre Haute Savings Bank, said he has been “welcomed with open arms” by the staff, which he called competent and “very committed.”
Also at Monday night’s meeting, the board voted to change the Housing Authority’s policy on “zero income” and portability of housing vouchers. “This brings us back into line with the way it’s supposed to be,” Hunt said.
The board also voted to give Hunt and Stewart authority to sign transactions relevant to the operations of the Housing Authority. It also voted to make Hunt and Stewart signatories on the Housing Authority’s line of credit with First Financial Corp.
The Terre Haute Housing Authority has 42 full-time employees, Buddle said. The Housing Authority is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Members of the seven-member Housing Authority board of directors are appointed by the mayor to non-consecutive, four-year terms.
Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.