News from Bliss Towers

Since the Hudson Housing Authority abandoned its plan to build new subsidized housing on State Street and decided to focus only on rehabilitating Bliss Towers, public attendance at the monthly meetings of the HHA Board of Commissioners has dropped off significantly. These days, it's only Gossips and Jeanette Wolfberg, who writes for Columbia Paper, along with a handful of building residents. But there are usually interesting things to be learned at the meetings, and last Wednesday's meeting was no exception.

Rebecca Wolff, now First Ward alderman, has joined the Board of Commissioners. She was appointed by Mayor Rick Rector at the end of last year, but the meeting on January 8 was the first she attended. There are still two vacancies on the board, which Mayor Kamal Johnson will have to fill, resulting from the resignations in October of Alan Weaver and Peggy Polenberg.

In the discussion that preceded approving the financials, it was revealed that HHA, which is exempt from property tax, pays "$30,000 and something" in a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes). That payment includes all taxes--to the city, the county, and the school district. HHA also pays $30,000 annually to the City in water and sewer fees, which for the 135 HHA units (117 in Bliss Towers and 15 in the low-rise) works out to $222.23 a year per unit.

In October, Gossips reported that the Hudson Housing Authority and the Catskill Housing Authority had entered into an agreement to allow Tim Mattice, executive director of HHA, to act as a part-time interim director for CHA. The contract was for three months--October 1 through December 31--and Mattice was to serve 15 to 20 hours a month, for which CHA would compensate HHA at a rate of $200 an hour. At the meeting on January 8, the HHA board voted to extend that contract for another three months--from January 1 through March 31. Mattice reported that since October the consulting fees had brought in $21,000 for the Hudson Housing Authority. In an exchange with HHA attorney Michael Bruno about the extension of the contract with CHA, which took place while the board was waiting for a member to arrive to constitute a quorum, Mattice made reference to the possibility of consolidation.

Mattice also announced at the meeting that the RAD (Rental Assistance Demonstration) conversion had reached another milestone, and the closing process should take place in late February or early March. He stated that the action would guarantee funding from the federal government for the next twenty years, preserve public housing in Hudson for the next twenty years, and help HHA become financially solvent, because it would enable HHA "to leverage debt and create a better revenue-to-debt ratio." He reiterated that the RAD conversion "doesn't affect residents in any way" and assured residents that "rent will still be based on the same model as it is now."
COPYRIGHT 2020 CAROLE OSTERINK