Fewer than two years after reducing 30 percent of its staff, Chattanooga Housing Authority officials said the agency’s central office staff still is too top heavy to meet HUD’s asset management standards.
“There are still some costs that are out of line that we need to try to get under control,” said CHA board chairman Eddie Holmes. “We’re learning as we go. This is new to everybody.”
The central office had been funding itself at about $56 per low-income housing unit, per month. That number is expected to drop to about $40 a month in 2011 when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires CHA and all public housing agencies to comply with asset management standards.
“We have to look at personnel size and see if we can come up with some other sources of revenue,” said Philippe T. Lindsay, CHA’s newly named chief financial officer.
Mr. Lindsay said CHA officials also might consider allowing some of the central office staff to work at the housing sites to decrease administrative costs if HUD allows it.