Housing authority working to make properties safer

A blossoming team

"We come blasting in here once a month making decisions.  We're gonna dance  with the one's we brought to the dance at this point. But the tenants are our responsibility. What we are is a team."”

Chris Greenwald, FMHA Commission member

FORT MADISON – The Fort Madison Housing Authority is looking to beef up security on the agency’s properties.
At Wednesday’s meeting of the Housing Authority board of directors, several residents complained about issues on the property, including stolen laundry, stolen gas out of vehicles, and other nefarious activity.
Current staffers Amy Myers and Nissa Rung were at the meeting and said they are working to crack down on policy violations and that has created some additional vacancies in tenants.
“I want to say something about occupancy, every unit's that vacant right now and ready, its not a matter of not having applications, it’s the process of people getting back to us,” Myers said.
“They’re not just sitting there ready waiting, there’s stuff happening on both sides.”
Myers said making tenants adhere to the policies is challenging to some, but she said their role is to make the facilities good for families.
“That’s just the way it is,” she said.
Director Mike Dear said the staff has been doing a great job filling vacancies in units and is looking at working with the Fort Madison Food Pantry, the Salvation Army, and the Dept of Human Services to get in front of people needing living arrangements.
Dear said the authority is facing immense challenges in regard to repairs, to issues with drugs in facilities including Hillview Village.
“We also have issues with crimes, things that we’ve heard about, violence that’s taken place, animals that are running loose. It’s a perfect storm out here,” Dear said.
“With that being said, conversations here recently that we’ve been having, and are circling back to, is that I’ve had communications with the police department, including occupying a residence at Ivanhoe.”
Dear said he wanted to make surveillance cameras a bigger agenda topic so they can help police with identifying issues.
“Us having that to work with them will make this community stronger,” he said.
Newly appointed board member Chris Greenwald, who chaired the meeting while current chair Jenny Divine was on via phone, told staff to keep voicing their concerns and speaking up at the meetings.
 "We have a responsiblity to you guys, and not just you guys, it's your families," Greenwald said. "We come blasting in here once a month making decisions.  We're gonna dance  with the one's we brought to the dance at this point. But the tenants are our responsibility. What we are is a team."
Greenwald directed Dear to put the discussion for cameras on next month’s agenda. Myers said the board had been discussing security upgrades for several months and Rung added that HUD may have grants to assist with the costs of the equipment.
But she said the authority has to be careful on the dos and don’ts of having cameras on housing authority property.
Greenwald said he doesn’t want to wait on the issue, and directed staff to continue researching the security upgrades so the board can move forward with the improvements.