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Tampa Housing Commissioner Facing Eviction

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By JOHN W. ALLMAN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 16, 2008

TAMPA - The Tampa Housing Authority on Tuesday began eviction proceedings against one of its own: longtime housing Commissioner Karen Peoples.

Peoples has been in violation of federal housing guidelines since November 2007 by refusing to move out of a four-bedroom apartment at C. Blythe Andrews, a housing complex in North Tampa.

Peoples, who lives by herself in the apartment, has refused three offers since January to move to a one-bedroom apartment at three other housing properties. The authority has 207 people on a waiting list for a four-bedroom apartment at C. Blythe Andrews.

In recent months, Peoples has tried to discredit the authority. She has falsely accused housing employees of professional and sexual misconduct, including the former manager of her housing complex.

Housing president Jerome Ryans said Peoples is deliberately violating regulations and has to go.

"She's on the board, she knows what the rules are," he said Monday. "We're going to get her out. Either she will leave on her own or we will take her to court."

Peoples did not return repeated calls for comment.

She has a history of not abiding by housing rules, having been cited for nonpayment of rent in January and September 2007 and for failing a housekeeping inspection in February 2007, according to housing records.

Peoples has lived in public housing since 1984. She was appointed to the board in 1998 by then-Mayor Dick Greco to be a voice for other residents. She is the lone housing tenant on the seven-member board.

Each board member is appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the Tampa City Council. The board sets policy for the agency, which operates 16 public housing properties with about 8,500 residents. The authority's annual budget is about $80 million.

Housing officials say Peoples is well-versed in housing policies and has used that knowledge to her benefit. When she signed a new lease in March 2006, she had four other people living with her, including two daughters and two grandchildren. They moved out in May 2007, according to housing documents.

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development routinely looks for "overhousing," a situation where a tenant is living in an apartment larger than they need. HUD subsidizes the units based on resident income.

Per its policy, the authority gives residents 10 days to report any change to their income or occupancy that would affect where they live or what they pay. Residents living in a unit larger than they need must move to an appropriate-sized apartment within 10 days of another unit being assigned.

In July 2007, Peoples notified the authority of a change in her income, but not that she was living alone and had been for months.

The authority didn't find out until August 2007. But no effort was made to relocate Peoples until January, according to housing documents.

No Favorable Treatment

Ryans said she has not received favorable treatment.

He said the authority has tried to deal with Peoples as a resident, not a board member. He said the agency's policy is to exhaust all efforts to bring a resident into compliance.

But he also didn't tell other board members about Peoples' situation until recently. And he didn't alert Mayor Pam Iorio to the problem until Tuesday, after being contacted by a reporter.

Iorio reappointed Peoples in 2006 to a new four-year term. She said Tuesday that Peoples would be stripped of her board position if she is evicted.

Ryans said the effort to move Peoples has been hampered by a lack of available one-bedroom apartments at C. Blythe Andrews. Peoples told the authority that moving from the complex would hinder her ability to work and to see her family because she would have to take public transportation.

Iorio said Ryans seems to be "bending over backward" to give Peoples every chance to comply.

The question is why.

In February, Peoples prompted an internal investigation of then-C. Blythe Andrews property manager Sharaun McClain. She gave the authority a handwritten petition signed by 23 residents that described 15 instances of professional and sexual misconduct by McClain, including an allegation that McClain had made unwanted sexual advances toward apartment staff and a resident's son.

The authority spent $7,407 for its law firm to investigate the allegations, interviewing seven people, including three residents and Peoples. The firm later ruled there was insufficient evidence to substantiate the claims. And housing officials have since said that Peoples pressured the residents to sign the petition.

A month later, in March, Peoples traveled 36 miles to Lakeland to see McClain's husband, who operates a barbecue restaurant McClain owns.

According to a signed, notarized statement, Scott McClain said Peoples told him that his wife was trying to "have a baby with two maintenance men and a resident's son."

Sharaun McClain filed a complaint with the authority the next day.

"She told lies and rumors of infidelity to my husband," McClain said of Peoples in her complaint. "THA has stood by and allowed this harassment to escalate. What will be next? What retribution will I be subject to for doing my job?"

Sharaun McClain was transferred in March to The Arbors, a larger housing development in South Tampa. Housing officials called it a promotion.

Sharaun McClain said this week that she and her husband closed their restaurant because she's afraid that Peoples might further retaliate.

"I didn't feel safe there," she said.

Sharaun McClain said Peoples should be removed from the board.

"It really bothers me she's allowed to do whatever she wants and nothing has happened to her," McClain said. "I don't understand why they haven't held her accountable for all the things she said."

Last month, Peoples sent Ryans a 13-page letter that, in part, accused Leroy Moore, housing vice president, of acting inappropriately and treating her with disrespect during a meeting June 5 - the last of three attempts to relocate her to a new apartment.

Moore responded in a June 27 letter to Peoples, blasting the commissioner: "Your continued effort to unduly influence compliance with federal rules and THA policy is the most egregious display of misconduct by a resident commissioner that I have seen in my 28+ year career," he wrote.

Account Called 'Fabrication'

"Let the record reflect that your entire account of this meeting is a complete fabrication. You have so misrepresented the facts and outcome of this meeting that it is impossible to untangle your fantasy."

The housing board has its regular monthly meeting today at 8 a.m.

Housing Commissioner Rubin Padgett said Peoples called him two weeks ago to ask about convening a special board meeting because she was being treated unfairly. He told her it wouldn't be appropriate. "Being a commissioner doesn't give you special privilege to break the law," he said. "She just has to know she's not any different from anybody else."

Padgett said Ryans has tried not to embarrass Peoples or the board by making the issue public, which he supports. But, he said, something should have been done sooner.

"That's the only thing they did wrong," Padgett said, "was not taking immediate action."

Reporter John W. Allman can be reached at jallman@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7915 .

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