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Tampa Housing Authority Official Fights Her Eviction

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By JOHN W. ALLMAN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 5, 2008

TAMPA - Eviction proceedings are continuing against Tampa Housing Authority Commissioner Karen Peoples - but not without a fight.

Peoples submitted a letter to Hillsborough County Civil Court this week, responding to her eviction notice and accusing housing officials of unfairly targeting her.

Now it's up to a judge to decide whether to rule immediately on her case, order mediation between Peoples and the authority or schedule a hearing.

Peoples is not listed in court records as having an attorney.

"Because Karen is not represented, I think the judge is going to afford every opportunity for her to potentially have her day in court," the authority's lawyer, Ricardo Gilmore, said Thursday.

Peoples, a 10-year housing board member, has lived by herself since November 2007 in a four-bedroom apartment at C. Blythe Andrews, an East Tampa public housing complex.

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development routinely looks for such cases, called "overhousing," where a tenant is living in a unit larger than he or she needs.

Typically, tenants in violation are moved as soon as a suitably sized unit is found.

Peoples has refused three offers by the authority since January to relocate to a one-bedroom apartment. There are more than 200 families approved for a four-bedroom at C. Blythe Andrews who remain on a waiting list because of no vacancies.

Finally, in July, housing officials said no more.

Peoples received an eviction notice Aug. 26, and responded in writing Sept. 2 to Hillsborough County Civil Judge Eric Myers. Her handwritten letter asked for mercy.

"There is a lot of unformed information against me that is untrue," Peoples wrote.

Peoples said in her letter that housing president Jerome Ryans had promised to move her in July to a new apartment at Belmont Heights Estates, an income-based housing development not operated by the authority.

Ryans was unavailable for comment Thursday. Lillian Stringer, public relations director, said no such deal was ever made. Belmont Heights has its own selection process and is managed by a private company.

Peoples in her letter also accused Ryans and Leroy Moore, housing vice president, of acting inappropriately.

"It's not surprising," Moore said Thursday. "We've had distractions for the last 12 months in trying to get her to comply with her lease, and this is another distraction."

Peoples, contacted Thursday, said Ryans and Moore allowed a former property manager at C. Blythe Andrews to evict 15 people from the complex and also allowed the manager, Sharaun McClain, to intimidate Peoples when she tried to intervene on behalf of some of the residents.

Peoples said the majority of residents were kicked out for reasons other than nonpayment of rent.

Housing officials and records, however, dispute that.

McClain became property manager at C. Blythe Andrews in December 2007. That same month, records show five tenants received eviction notices, all for nonpayment of rent.

All of the tenants had received at least three late notices. One tenant received six late notices prior to eviction and another received seven late notices, documents show.

Peoples has a history of flouting housing rules. Her housing file contains citations for nonpayment of rent in January and September 2007, and for failing a housekeeping inspection in February 2007.

Peoples has lived in public housing since 1984. She pays $26 in rent for her four-bedroom apartment.

She is the lone public housing resident on the seven-member housing authority board appointed by Tampa's mayor. Peoples was first appointed in 1998 by then-Mayor Dick Greco. In 2006, she was reappointed to a new four-year term by Mayor Pam Iorio.

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

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