Fayetteville Housing Authority reports unit vacancies, security upgrades and ongoing VMS reconciliation

At the June 26 meeting, staff reported operational metrics across Fayetteville Housing Authority properties, described safety and amenity improvements, and outlined continuing technology and audit work.

Tara, presenting the board report, gave unit-level counts: Hillcrest Towers has 120 units with 114 active leases and six vacant units (about 20 offers outstanding); Lewis Plaza has 38 units with 16 offline and 18 active leases; Morgan Manor has 52 units with one offline, 45 active leases and seven vacant units; Willow Heights has 38 units with 20 offline and 15 active leases. Tara said staff were working with HUD to place additional units into offline status where appropriate and that about 15 offers were outstanding across properties.

Staff described improvements funded by safety and security grant obligations: cameras ordered for Hillcrest Towers, Lewis Plaza and Willow Heights; sliding doors and reinforced doors for Hillcrest (some sliding doors were lost in transit); upgraded fob access and a rack-mounted server delivered for camera compatibility. Tapley said benches were purchased for elevator landings after residents had been using broken chairs, and the authority hosted a regional volunteer event that added a gazebo and landscaping improvements at Morgan Manor with support from Southwest NARO and First Community Bank.

On vouchers and program reconciliation, Tapley and staff said they are continuing Voucher Management System (VMS) reconciliation, including Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) data with HUD. Staff reported that prior reporting errors from earlier teams contributed to misreported numbers and that Aurelie and Amber spent extensive time rebuilding data to come into compliance. Tapley reiterated that the forensic audit and weekly meetings with the forensic firm (Barry Dunn) are ongoing and that staff are supplying records back to 2017 for review.

Staff also said they are piloting recycling dumpsters at properties in partnership with the city, which they expect to reduce trash costs and improve site appearance. The board asked no substantive questions during the operational report portion of the meeting.