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Masontown residents voice opposition to workforce housing

By Erin Hayes for The 6 min read
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Amanda Steen | Herald-Standard

Kris Kelly, center, raises a concern at a town hall meeting in Masontown over the new workforce housing to be built. “Do we want the same thing to happen here?” asked Kelly, referring to Fort Mason Village.

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Amanda Steen | Herald-Standard

Perry O’Malley, president of Pennsylvania Affordable Housing Corporation, addresses concerns by residents of Masontown at a town hall meeting on Monday evening at the Masontown VFW.

MASONTOWN — Tensions ran high during a two-hour town hall meeting about proposed workforce housing, and spilled over afterward when a brief scuffle between a councilman and a borough resident occurred.

Most attendees had left the Veterans of Foreign Wars post, where the meeting was held, when a verbal altercation ensued between the borough’s secretary, Judy Lee, and resident John Stoffa.

Lee was talking to Stoffa about posts on a Facebook page that accused her husband, Councilman Harry Lee, of supporting the Masontown Family Housing project during the application phase.

When the discussion between Judy Lee and Stoffa became heated, Harry Lee made his way across the hall.

A scuffle ensued, prompting council President Frank McLaughlin and others to intervene.

Borough police Chief Joe Ryan said the incident is under investigation.

More than 100 residents had earlier gathered to voice strong opposition to the project, with some accusing two project developers of lying about the intended purpose of the housing project, and others accusing borough officials of supporting it.

McLaughlin told residents the project had been “misrepresented from the beginning,” and that borough officials, acting on the understanding that the project would be developed for private purchase, had submitted a “letter of no opposition” regarding the project.

Only Councilman Mike Washco showed support for the project on Monday.

“We need people in this town. People are moving out every day,” Washco said of the need to attract new residents to Masontown to share in the expenses of operating the borough.

With the exception of Councilwoman Kay Rendina, a full council was present at the meeting.

All in attendance expressed concerns that the Masontown Family Housing project, which is being billed as affordable housing for working families, will end up as another Fort Mason Village, a federally subsidized housing project that has been a hotbed of disruptive behavior and a drain on borough police department resources.

Summa Development of Pittsburgh was awarded more than $6 million in tax credits from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency for the financing of the project in June. Masontown Family Housing, a 37-unit townhouse development, will be constructed next to the Fort Mason Village on a tract of land purchased from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, developers have said. Construction is set to begin this spring.

Despite previous assurances from developers that the new project is not intended as subsidized housing, residents in attendance voiced concerns that developers were not being truthful.

One resident pointed out that in August, Mark Yauger, executive director of the Fayette County Housing Authority, said that the project would “revert back to us (the authority) after the tax credits are satisfied.”

Developer Perry O’Malley, president of the Pennsylvania Affordable Housing Corp. and executive director of the Butler County Housing Authority, called the quote “incorrect.”

“Just because it’s in the paper doesn’t make it right,” he said.

Yauger confirmed Tuesday that the only role of the housing authority is as the property owner until the agreement with Summa is finalized.

“We have nothing in the deal (with the exception of the property) on this one,” he said. “The transfer of the property will be done shortly.”

As to the workforce housing unit, it is the sole responsibility of the developer until the tax credits are satisfied.

“(At that time) we would have the option to buy it,” said Yauger. “The tax credits will be satisfied in 15 years.”

The housing authority would not be required to purchase the property, should the owner offer it to the agency, Yauger added.

“People forget that Fort Mason Village started out as (being) for working families,” resident Kris Kelly said at the meeting, adding that her parents resided there in the late 1950s.

As working families eventually moved into their own homes, the project started accepting government-subsidized tenants in order to remain filled, Kelly said.

When asked if Masontown Family Housing would accept a Section 8 housing voucher from a potential renter, O’Malley said that, by law, the project would not be able to discriminate against such tenants. The response prompted some in the crowd to counter that accepting those vouchers is subsidized housing.

“We don’t want our cops down there risking their necks,” Kelly said, adding that the shootings, stabbings and drugs associated with Fort Mason Village is now “a scourge to the community.”

Borough police Officer Alexis Metros raised concerns about the basic layout of the Masontown Family Housing project, saying that with only one entrance and exit to the project and with all housing units facing inward, anyone involved in criminal activity could easily see police coming and evade officers through trails that might run behind the project.

O’Malley said the problems existing at Fort Mason Village were due to bad management, and that problem tenants could be evicted from Masontown Family Housing in as little as 72 hours, under some circumstances.

Mayor Toni Petrus and others in the crowd said that assurance was unrealistic.

In promoting Masontown Family Housing as being a safe environment for working families to reside, O’Malley said potential tenants will be screened for criminal records and bad credit, and be required to provide former landlord references and submit proof of income.

“The whole idea is to improve quality of life so that (one day) children can break the cycle of poverty and not need subsidized housing,” O’Malley said, adding that the Masontown Family Housing project will include a community center and playground for children.

“You just described Fort Mason Village,” said resident Dr. James Rhoades from the crowd.

Councilwoman Kim Essig and others in the crowd questioned how Masontown was selected as the site of the new project when so many other communities are similar in demographic and available amenities.

Citing a “strong recapture rate,” O’Malley said that within a five-mile area of the Masontown Family Housing site, there are 2,330 households that would be eligible to reside in an affordable workforce housing unit. Just 1.59 percent of those eligible would be all that was needed to fill the new development, he said.

In response, the crowd cited a current 12 percent vacancy rate on rental properties in Masontown and raised concerns that the rate would increase if 37 households were to relocate to the new project.

“How did you end up in Masontown, and how do we get you out?” asked resident Matt Fiasco, a gas industry worker.

“There are a lot of people very unhappy about this,” said Fiasco, who moved his family from Idaho to Masontown.

“It’s obvious that the people of Masontown don’t want this, and we hope council does everything they can to stop this,” said Barbara Rhoades, who assisted in a petition drive that had generated 601 signatures opposing the project.

Herald-Standard reporter Patty Yauger contributed to this report.

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