Fayette housing agency attempts to help out homeless family
A woman who said she’s been homeless for four months and has exhausted all other housing options convinced the Fayette County Housing Authority board of directors to ask for an emergency waiver to help her situation. Laura Boggs made an impassioned plea at last week’s board meeting, telling members that after Friday night, she and her 21-month-old son would be sleeping in a car because they had nowhere else to stay.
“I’ve been in every shelter in this county,” said Boggs. “This is my last stop for help. I don’t know what else to do.”
Boggs noted that she currently stood at number 13 on the authority’s waiting list for a two-bedroom public-housing unit, but needed immediate housing. She asked why this couldn’t occur, given the fact that the authority currently has 234 vacant units – a vacancy rate of 14 percent.
While the board was generally sympathetic to her plight, Dennis Barclay, the authority’s director of housing management, said the authority had closed its public-housing waiting list for the past three months to carry out an ambitious relocation-and-demolition plan.
Basically, Barclay explained that the demolition plan requires tenants to be moved out of Lemon Wood Acres and Dunlap Creek Village, so the authority has made those transfers its top priority. Barclay also said the board would be violating its own policy if it arbitrarily jumped Boggs up on the waiting list – something the authority has been pounded for in the past.
“We’re in a unique situation where I’m taking stuff (housing units) off line. In Uniontown, I have no vacant units,” said Barclay. However, he said that if the board voted to make an exception to its admissions policy and relocation plan for the Boggs case, he would contact the appropriate official at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Pittsburgh, to see if she would grant approval.
The board, on a motion by Angela M. Zimmerlink seconded by Beverly Beal, agreed to instruct Barclay to make that call. Zimmerlink, however, noted that the board action would be contingent upon further verification of Boggs’ story and her meeting of the normal requirements for admission to public housing.
Barclay agreed to carry out the request, but warned, “Keep in mind that you’re setting a precedent.” The board countered that this was a one-time deal, designed to address an emergency situation in a unique period of transition.
Boggs agreed to provide the authority with further information on her desperate situation, as suggested by authority solicitor John M. “Jack” Purcell, who noted it might help justify the board’s action. “I have no problem with that. I have all the documents that you may need,” she said.
After meeting with Boggs on Friday morning, Barclay said he was able to resolve the matter without asking for a waiver from HUD Pittsburgh. The discussion yielded information that qualified Boggs for a three-bedroom unit because she gets weekend custody of two children from a previous marriage, he said.
Since three-bedroom units are in less demand, Barclay said that Boggs moved up to number four on the three-bedroom waiting list. He said he was able to offer units to the people ahead of her on that waiting list, which means current policy was followed and she should be housed in South Hill Terrace by noon Monday.
“That’s how it all got solved, without any muss or fuss. Everything was done, according to (current) policy,” said Barclay.
He added that since 99 percent of the current tenants slated for relocation have already been assigned new units, he was able to pare down the three-bedroom waiting list quicker than the two-week time frame initially envisioned.
Barclay also said that the church of board member James V. Bitonti has agreed to help Boggs with weekend housing needs so she and her infant son won’t have to sleep in a car.
“She will not spend a day in the car,” said Barclay.
However, Barclay noted that the authority also ran its normal background checks on Boggs, as a means of verifying her eligibility for public housing.