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New Director Named For County's Affordable Housing Office

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TBO.com

Published: December 19, 2008

TAMPA - Hilllsborough County's troubled affordable housing office is getting a new director.

In a statement issued late this afternoon, County Administrator Pat Bean said Valmarie Turner, the current manager of the contracts unit, had been appointed director of the Affordable Housing Department. Turner has worked in the department for two years and previously managed affordable housing programs in Daytona Beach and Georgia. She will oversee the department's 25 employees.

She inherits a department rocked by allegations of mismanagement that caused the county to lose $2 million in federal funds last year.

An internal audit released two weeks ago characterized a department in disarray from 2004 to 2006, and placed much of the blame on the people in charge. The audit referred to the county's previous housing management as "inept" and lacking "ambition and initiative."

It cited an environment where the former housing manager, Dexter Barge, had no experience or training with affordable housing programs.

The department has been under scrutiny since mid-2007, when the executive director of a nonprofit agency alleged impropriety by key housing employees. The accusations prompted an internal county investigation last year and helped launch an ongoing federal probe by the FBI, U.S. Attorney and Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector General.

The department helps low- to moderate-income residents get safe, low-cost housing. The office receives about $15 million to $18 million in housing grants each year from the state and federal governments, which it uses to rehabilitate substandard housing, provide down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers and finance construction of affordable housing.

In addition to naming Turner, the statement said Mike Merrill, the county's Utilities and Commerce Administrator, had been named Affordable Housing Officer.

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