, the organization that operates the city’s public housing units dwelling roughly 12,000 residents, has received notice from the federal Housing & Urban Development it has been removed from “troubled status,” a designation announced nearly 10 years ago.
Returning to “standard performer” operations means HUD’s oversite is less restrictive. Public housing organizations undergo yearly reviews. If a troubled finding occurs HUD works with the local operator to craft a recovery plan.
Technically, HUD has designated Park City Communities substandard overall due to a substandard score because of the condition of its real estate portfolio. In all other assessment areas, such as financial and managerial, it received passing grades.
Still, local and federal officials see the upgraded designation as a path to self-sufficiency.
News release from Mayor’s Office:
On Friday, April 14, Park City Communities reported that the organization has successfully brought all its programming out of “Troubled Status.” Park City Communities has been working for the past ten years to change the reporting status of all its programming since its designation of the position by Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on September 30, 2013. “Troubled Status” refers to a Public Housing Authority (PHA) scoring 59 points or below on their annual report cards. Separate from these scores, Park City Communities’ Section 8 Program also went into “Troubled Status” on January 23, 2020. However, on February 8, 2023, HUD released Park City Communities’ Section 8 SEMAP score for fiscal year 2022 which was a 63 – Standard Performer.
Jillian Baldwin, CEO and President of Park City Communities stated, “I would like to thank the Park City Communities staff for all the hard work and effort they’ve dedicated to changing the trajectory of our organization. I would also like to thank Congressman Jim Himes and his team for their irreplaceable support throughout our journey towards bringing our program out of ‘Troubled Status.'”
“I’m extremely proud of the work that Park City Communities has done to raise their scores and bring their programming out of Troubled Status,” Mayor Ganim stated. “Not only is this a big accomplishment for the organization, but it holds even more weight to the City of Bridgeport and all its residents. Park City Communities is working hard to ensure their program is up to high standards to continue their work for our residents and it certainly doesn’t go unnoticed.”
Park City Communities’ major accomplishments that contributed to their recent scores include improvement in the governance sector of the organization, improving policies for staff and the agency. The organization successfully negotiated the settlement of 37 union-issued grievances while ushering in the close out of a two-year stand still with Collective Bargaining Units and executed three Collective Bargaining Agreements. Park City Communities also saw improvement in its Finance Department as it was able to acquire additional funding and allocate funds according to priority of need. All backlogged payments to landlords, late recertifications, and late annual inspections have also been successfully closed. Park City Communities has also increased its portfolio and agency-wide occupancy, along with successfully reconstructing 20 units at PT Barnum.
BUT IT TOOK 10YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This positive note of the standing of Park City Communities by HUD overseers can also be looked at through the phrase, “been down so long it looks like up to me”. PCC has a staff of workers which Executive Director Jillian Baldwin has noted above for their effort to deal with many challenges to increase the grading assessment to 63 by HUD for the past year.
As you read between the lines above you begin to understand the robust administrative effort to focus thie Bridgeport Housing Authority on its tasks and accomplish them.
Coach T above indicates a 10 YEAR effort. However, when considering the status of all residents, think of the series of Bridgeport municipal leaders who do not attend to appointments to other Commissions like Fair Housing or Fair Rent, for much longer than ten years, with reminders regularly from the cheap seats pointing to the ‘practical deaths’ of these public boards.
Where is the action. City Council? Who cares about quality of shelter, affordability, and safety factors? Where is the oversight, the embarassment, the action? Time will tell.