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Tampa Public Housing Gets Stimulus Money

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By LINDSAY PETERSON

lpeterson@tampatrib.com

Published: March 26, 2009

TAMPA - Tampa Housing Authority officials say the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development moved at record speed to get federal stimulus money out the door to local agencies.

The authority formally accepted its $10.5 million share Wednesday, and Chief Operating Officer Leroy Moore said it plans to start awarding projects this week. To save time, it will use previously approved contractors Gibraltar Construction Corp., Hayes Construction Co. and Malphus & Sons.

"This allows us to improve the lives of folks living in public housing while putting people to work," said Jerome Ryans, president and chief executive of the Tampa Housing Authority.

HUD requires that all of the money be contracted out within a year and the projects finished in three years. That should be no problem for the housing authority, which has a $100 million backlog of work ready to begin, Moore said.

Each public housing complex will get something, he said. J.L. Young Apartments, for instance, will receive $3.2 million worth of new floors and roofing, bathroom fixes and other improvements.

More than $2 million will go toward the rebuilding of Moses White Estates, a 70-unit complex at 47th and Diana streets that was demolished 10 years ago.

The $10.5 million will come in addition to the housing authority's $5 million HUD annual allocation for building improvements.

Also, the authority hopes to receive part of the $1 billion HUD has yet to give out. It's being awarded through a competitive bid process. The bid rules are expected to be publicized sometime in the next month, Moore said.

The $789 billion federal stimulus plan approved last month set aside $4 billion for HUD projects across the country. About $1.3 million is going to the St. Petersburg Housing Authority, and $632,000 is going to the Bradenton Housing Authority.

Reporter Lindsay Peterson can be reached at (813) 259-7834.

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