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Controversial Developer Up For Grant

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By MIKE SALINERO

msalinero@tampatrib.com

Published: December 31, 2008

TAMPA - Low-income housing developer Sylvia Alvarez, whose most recent project faces foreclosure, has been approved for a $50,000 federal grant through Hillsborough County's Affordable Housing Office.

County commissioners will decide today whether to award the grant to Alvarez, a controversial figure whose allegations against three county employees in May triggered a federal investigation of the Affordable Housing Office.

If approved, the money would go for "operating expenses" for the Housing and Education Alliance, a nonprofit organization Alvarez founded in 2002. Eligible expenses include salaries, rent and utilities, equipment and materials.

Alvarez could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

To get the grant, Alvarez's organization had to bid to become a Community Housing Development Organization, a private nonprofit group that has staff with the ability to develop affordable housing. The designation means she can begin a new project.

The county awarded the designation to Alvarez's group and to the Plant City Community Development Corp. A third bidder, University Community Development Corp., was not approved because its board did not have the required number of low-income members or representatives from low-income communities.

Bill Armstrong, the county's interim director of Affordable Housing, said the federal government appropriates the operations money to foster the growth of nonprofit organizations that can develop housing for low-income families.

"We use the term 'building capacity,'" Armstrong said. "It's so they can provide more affordable housing than they have in the past."

Alvarez has a lot of experience applying for and getting housing grants. Records show her businesses have won more than $5.2 million in state and federal grants over the past four years.

Her latest project, a 36-townhome development called El Capitan Crossings, was never built. Creditors have gone to court to foreclose on the building site in Town 'N Country.

In an effort to pay off some of her debt on El Capitan, Alvarez applied to the county in July for $880,000 in federal funding. The county chose two other projects instead.

A Nov. 16 article in The Tampa Tribune showed how a mortgage company owned by Alvarez's nonprofit group charged $170,000 in unnecessary mortgage fees to low-income homebuyers. The fees, though legal, have since been banned by the county's Affordable Housing Office.

Armstrong said he was not aware that creditors are foreclosing on El Capitan. He has read other news stories about Alvarez but said her organization meets the guidelines for the housing development designation. "I don't have any background in the projects and what the problems are," Armstrong said. "As far as I know I have no indication their organization has done anything illegal."

County Commissioner Kevin White, an occasional critic of the Affordable Housing Office, said he did not know that Alvarez was in line for more grant money.

"I would definitely have some concerns about that," White said. "I'd have to ask some questions about that."

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303.

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