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Iorio Picks Pastor To Fill Housing Board Vacancy

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By JOHN W. ALLMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 18, 2008

Updated: 11/18/2008 02:02 pm

TAMPA - Two months after having to evict one of its own, the Tampa Housing Authority is set to have a full board again.

Mayor Pam Iorio has nominated Hersey Jackson to fill the vacant resident board seat formerly held by Karen Peoples, the longtime public housing resident who sat in the chair for 10 years.

Peoples was evicted in September for failing to comply with federal housing guidelines. She was immediately removed from the board.

The Tampa City Council is expected to vote on Jackson's appointment Thursday.

Jackson, 52, a Pentecostal pastor and Chicago native, moved to Tampa in 1999 from Phoenix. He and his wife have lived at the Arbors at Padgett Estates, a public housing property in South Tampa, since 2004. He has had no disciplinary violations.

He was presented to Iorio for consideration, along with a handful of other residents, by authority President Jerome Ryans.

"He's a real decent guy. Very independent thinker," Ryans said this morning. "He'll be a tremendous asset to the board."

Ryans said he hopes Jackson – who moved into subsidized housing after he retired and was living on a limited income – can help change public perception of housing residents.

"I think he's going to be great for the image of public housing and do away with a lot of those perceptions that exist out there that are wrong," Ryans said. "What people are going to find out is residents of public housing are no different than any other person living in any community."

Jackson, 52, agreed. He said he moved into the Arbors when the cost of living was rising and the housing market was declining. He said he wants to move back into his own home once the economy improves.

"I want to help people to know and to understand that housing is not what it used to be," he said. "We want to rid ourselves of that stigma of housing being full of riffraff, downtrodden people and so forth. You can be an upstanding person and live in housing.

"You don't have to be a drug dealer to be in housing. You don't have to be a drug user to be in housing. … There's many people in housing for different reasons," Jackson said. "I respect my home on the outside as well as on the inside. That's the message I want to convey to other people."

Jackson serves as resident council president for the Arbors. He also holds a twice-a-week gathering at the apartment complex where residents come together to talk and pray.

As the residents' representative on the board, Jackson would be charged with giving voice to their concerns at monthly meetings.

Ryans said he thinks Jackson has the right approach.

"He's a very deliberate kind of guy. He's in the business of mending fences and getting things done in a positive way," Ryans said. "I think the residents are going to get a lot out of having him on the board."

If confirmed by the council, Jackson's first board meeting would be in December.

The seven-member authority 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. Authority board seats are appointed by the mayor. Members are volunteers and do not receive pay. One seat is reserved for a resident of public housing.

From 1998 through September, Peoples was that appointee.

She came under fire last year after the authority learned she was living by herself in a four-bedroom apartment, which is a violation. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development stipulates how many people can live in certain-sized apartments. It's not uncommon for as many as eight people to live in a four-bedroom apartment.

Peoples, who had lived in public housing since 1984, paid $26 a month in rent. For nearly a year, she refused three attempts by the authority to relocate her to a one-bedroom apartment at other housing sites. She also had been cited twice for nonpayment of rent and once for failing a housekeeping inspection since January 2007.

Her case went to court in August. She tried twice to block her eviction but failed.

Jackson will serve out the remainder of Peoples' term, which expires in June 2010.

Reporter John W. Allman can be reached at (813) 259-7915.

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