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City and federal officials signed an agreement Wednesday to begin restructuring the Indianapolis Housing Agency, which has faced recent financial troubles, understaffing, litigation from the Indiana attorney general and tenants, and a ransomware attack.
The cooperative endeavor agreement signed by Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Richard Monocchio sets off a multi-year process of evaluation and reorganization of the agency.
The IHA, a federally funded government housing agency that receives board and chief executive appointments from city leadership, administers funding that is used to house 20,000 low-income individuals across the city. Mismanagement of the agency dates to 2018, according to HUD officials.
Monocchio said financial and operational disarray at IHA included dilapidated unit conditions, a waitlist that did not move, rent that was not set properly and resident income that was not assessed properly. About 1,500 of 9,000 available housing vouchers weren’t being used as the waitlist stalled.
“Conditions were poor. Very difficult to track the funds. Voucher program wasn’t working right,” Monocchio said. “Not much was working right.”
The nine-member IHA board of commissioners has been dissolved, to be replaced by Kimberly Wize, the Indiana field director of HUD. The parties will also immediately launch a search for two positions: a permanent CEO and a local “recovery monitor.” That person will oversee day-to-day operations of the agency.
Aryn Schounce, the Hogsett administration’s senior policy adviser, will serve as the local recovery monitor until one is found. After the city appoints a recovery monitor, Schounce will shift to an advisory role on behalf of the mayor.
During the first 90 days of the agreement, the mayor’s administration and HUD officials will find an outside partner for a forensic audit and management assessment of the agency. Partners for that work will be found through a formal request-for-proposals process.
The transition will occur in coordination with Greg Stocking, interim executive director of the agency. Marcia Lewis, who had led IHA since January 2022, retired in January.
Monocchio emphasized Wednesday that this step, which includes the formal finding that the agency is in substantial default and a takeover of all assets, is a last resort.
“It took a long time for things to get this way,” he said.
In 2022, the city allocated $2.5 million in direct funding to support IHA maintenance staffing and operational needs. In 2019, the mayor’s office and the Indianapolis City-County Council reconstituted the entire board. To this day, the city is still providing IT services to assist with issues caused by an October 2022 cyberattack.
In 2023, IHA managed nearly $62 million in housing choice vouchers and an additional $1.5 million in its public housing capital fund.
Those who receive assistance from IHA should be unaffected by the shift. Initially, the 87-person staff of the agency will stay the same and maintain the same leadership structure and points of contact. Eventually, conditions and availability of low-income housing in Indianapolis is expected to improve through the work with federal partners.
“Today’s partnership ensures that IHA—a fundamental resource in providing housing to Indianapolis’ most vulnerable neighbors—will be fully functional, transparent and accountable,” Hogsett said.
Prior to the decision to take possession of the Indianapolis Housing Agency, HUD conducted a review that found the agency failed to administer voucher funding, was unable to provide records and unable to perform procurement of additional properties. That review caused HUD to determine that the Indianapolis Housing Agency was in substantial default, a status that the agency was notified of on March 29.
It’s not entirely unique for the federal oversight body to take possession of a local housing authority, but Monocchio said in most instances in which HUD has taken possession of an agency, it is part of an “adversarial” relationship. He said the city’s cooperation and active role in the process, which began through a 2022 letter requesting assistance, is unique.
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Good Job Mayor Joe. Another proud day in the life of an administration that is literally destroying a what was a great American city. Riots, Corruption Clap Clap. Can’t wait to see what’s next. No wonder your family members moved to Greenwood.
What “was a great American city”…? Indianapolis has grown substantially over the last 8 years and will continue to do so given there is another $10.3 Billion in public and private investment on the way. I grew up in Indy and apparently don’t remember this supposed “golden era” of Indy… just some lipstick on a pig downtown while factories closed all over Indy and, outside of downtown, the town collapsed in on itself. I never thought I would see the growth and development that I’ve seen the last 8 years along Mass Ave., in the Near Eastside/Southside/Northside along with, finally, a real transit network working class people can actually rely on, and WAY more to do for people who actually live here, not just wealthy Carmel residents who pop in for a Colts game and $100 steak before they drive back to Carmel. I think your perception is that Indy is in decline since it no longer caters to just the suburban elites and looks a lot more diverse now than it did in 1993.
I love this alternate reality that Conservatives have created where the city had, infamously, no crime problems, potholes, or racial tension when we had a Republican mayor lmao
Donald F.
+ 1
All of these major mess ups by the city are all in the name of
social justice.
To our social justice friends that supported the BLM/Antifa
protests and riots, ** violent crime is still higher now than
pre-George Floyd. **
The Housing Agency has been an embarrasment for decades, just like Fall Creek. It took Democrats like Joe Hogsett and Bart Petersen to drain these Republican swamps, to borrow a concept from the MAGots. Since these problems didn’t really concern the good denizens of Second Presbyterian and other Republican strongholds in Marion County, much less the outlying communities like Carmel, they were ignored by the Republicans more concerned with sport venues and low taxes than whether the city was livable.
Hate to tell the liberal gop haters, but the Indianapolis Housing Authority has been basically incompetent and corrupt for many decades, even back before Lugar and Hudnut were mayor.
Too true. Mismanaged, never focused on or cared about. Those in leadership didn’t care for much of the population these areas housed. But a housing authority program can be well run, funded and maintained to truly serve the citizens that need the most help. And can be done to where neighbors don’t even know it’s low income house and blends in with the community. That is the goal
15-20 years ago, the biggest issue with Section 8 vouchers was slow processing times and the variations from one inspector to another. The last 5-8 years have been nothing short of abysmal. So much so that it forced us to only allow Section 8 applicants for housing as a last resort, drastically curtailing our participation to nearly non-existent. The inane way in which they pay property managers, the embarrassingly slow process, the requirement to sometimes still fax paperwork, or only send/receive certain documents via postal mail, just baffles us, but are the least of the chaotic ideocracy that we have seen from IHA over the years. I could write a book just on the insanity from their office.
For years I was gifted the opportunities to listen and watch Rufus Myers make a mockery of himself. I miss those days. And from what I’ve been told, he was an upgrade over his predecessor. Organization never stood a chance, and that’s an indictment of pretty much every Mayor since its inception, regardless of party.
Bud was an absolute sanctimonious bum, just did not care at all about the people involved, and a pain to deal with.
I served on the I.H.A Board from December 6, 2010, through December 31, 2017, appointed by a both Democrat and a Republican Councils. All Board Members serve without pay, as citizen volunteers. Bud Myers did a fine job, considering the limitations placed by H.U.D. and by unrealistic salary limitations. Many fine Democrats and many fine Republicans really do give a damn about all the people I.H.A. serves! Business School 101: holding someone accountable when he or she does not have proper authority is a basic mistake.