Housing authority director passes probation period
With his six-month probationary period behind him, Mark Yauger on Thursday received the unanimous support of the Fayette County Housing Authority board to remain as the executive director.
Yauger took the executive director’s position at the end of January. With Thursday’s approval, he now has a five-year contract to serve as the executive director through Jan. 28, 2019, with an automatic renewal unless terminated for cause by the authority.
Under the terms of the contract, Yauger will be paid $100,000 a year, which may be adjusted annually in accordance with the housing authority’s policy.
“I think he’s doing a great job,” said board member Beverly Beal.
The authority also took action to revise the flat rate charged at public housing units. The change, required under federal statute, could mean increases ranging from $48 to $161 per unit where residents pay a flat rate instead of a rate based on 30 percent of their income. The motion passed 3-2, with chairman Harry Fike and tenant representative Mary Wertz voting against it.
“I feel that it’s unfair. They are only picking on people who pay flat rent. No one else will see an increase,” Wertz said.
According to Dave Huston, the authority’s director of operations, about 240 units of the authority’s 1,249 units pay a flat rate, with about half of those tenants being senior citizens.
“A lot of the seniors live in one-bedroom apartments. Their rent will go up by $95,” Wertz said.
“It could be detrimental to us. We could lose a lot of our flat-rate tenants,” Yauger said.
Wertz said she most likely will switch to an income-based rent, which would mean an increase of $50 for her, but a savings over the anticipated $122 increase in the flat fee. The increases will go into effect on the tenant’s lease anniversary date.
“This is the law that’s being imposed upon us,” said Sam Davis, the authority’s solicitor.
Because the rent increases in public housing are limited to no more than 35 percent, two rate schedules were adopted by the authority Thursday: one for current tenants and one for new admissions after Oct. 1, 2014. the rents are based on 80 percent of the fair market value of rents in the Pittsburgh market. As an example, rents for current tenants at South Hill Terrace in Brownsville starting in October will be $367 for a one-bedroom apartment, $471 for two-bedrooms, $575 for three-bedroom units and $680 for a four-bedroom unit. New tenants will pay between $482 and $804 for those same size apartments.
It was noted that if the new rates were not approved, the authority could have been in jeopardy of losing all of its funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.