Sacramento County elected officials last month made their decision on the next leader of the region’s main public housing agency, but more than two weeks later, Sacramento City Council has not approved the county’s choice with its own vote.
At least three county supervisors said this week they are concerned by the delay — and by what it might signal for the city and county’s collaboration to house some of Sacramento’s most vulnerable residents.
The Sacramento Housing Redevelopment Agency is a joint powers authority between the city of Sacramento and Sacramento County — both must approve of any contracts for SHRA. The county in January approved two contracts with Tampa-based consulting firm CVR Associates, Inc., one of which is to provide interim executive services by appointing a CVR senior vice president, Kris Warren, as SHRA’s interim director.
The county added a level of urgency this week by informing city leaders that the contract for SHRA’s interim executive director, James Shields, will not be renewed by the county after it expires March 3. Shields has been reappointed to 30-day contracts each month since October, when the former director, La Shelle Dozier, retired.
The letter, sent by Sacramento County Executive Officer David Villanueva to Sacramento City Manager Maraskeshia Smith and obtained by The Bee, was sent Tuesday, the same day the council had been set to consider appointing Warren during an afternoon closed session meeting.
“We look forward to working with the Sacramento City Council to appoint a new Interim Director to this critical position,” Villanueva wrote.
The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors in late January approved two contracts with CVR Associates, which contracts with public housing authorities across the nation. One is to appoint Warren as SHRA’s interim director, which would break officials’ decadeslong practice of selecting an executive from within SHRA’s ranks.
The other contract is for an audit of the SHRA’s public housing and voucher programs and other structures.
The SHRA’s executive director oversees hundreds of millions of dollars for public housing projects that help to address the region’s crippling homelessness crisis. That person would be in charge of renovating Alder Grove, Seavey Circle and other housing in Upper Land Park which initial estimates said could need more than $1 billion in fixes.
The Sacramento City Council has not appointed Warren, following closed-session discussions about the appointment on Jan. 27, Feb. 3 and this past Tuesday.
A staff report from the Board of Supervisors noted that county and city staff worked together to select the new interim executive officer. The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors also on Jan. 27 discussed the contract for interim executive services in open session.
Sacramento County officials said they selected CVR Associates for an approximately one-year, $650,000 contract after the county requested proposals from other consultants and ranked its abilities. Supervisors also carved out an option for the contract to be extended by one year, into 2028. The contract with Sacramento County for interim executive officer services will cost $348,000, also with an option to extend the contract by one year.
The audit by CVR Associates would attempt to find potential inefficiencies in SHRA.
The approximate $1 million in contracts for Sacramento County comes as it faces a $101 million deficit for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1. The city of Sacramento is also grappling with its own $66.2 million budget shortfall.
Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty, Councilmembers Roger Dickinson, Rick Jennings, Mai Vang and Caity Maple all declined to comment on the process because the discussions took place during closed session. Council member Lisa Kaplan was not immediately available to comment. Councilmembers Phil Pluckebaum, Eric Guerra and Karina Talamantes did not respond to requests for comment.
The council is once again scheduled to meet in closed session, next Tuesday, to consider approving CVR Associates’ contracts and Warren’s appointment.
County aims criticism at SHRA in call for audit
The council’s delay frustrated county supervisors, two of whom suggested fresh leadership is necessary for an agency that in 2023 faced scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Housing and Development for failing to fill vacant apartments in affordable housing.
Supervisor Patrick Kennedy hailed the two contracts with CVR Associates totaling about $1 million as the greatest change to the region’s affordable housing policy in 40 years. He noted how county and city employees for months worked collaboratively on this issue.
“It is disappointing that the City Council has been unable to align around this shared goal and take action with us,” he wrote in a statement.
Supervisor Pat Hume cast a critical eye toward SHRA’s leadership. The audit of SHRA will help to “address lingering accusations of mismanagement and be sure that the proper protocols and practices are in place for the greatest chance of success going forward,” Hume wrote.
“Frankly, I can’t understand why anyone would be resistant to scrutiny in pursuit of improvement,” he added.
SHRA public housing homes are seen in a drone image looking north over Marina Vista from Seavey Circle on Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021, in Sacramento. Xavier Mascareñas Sacramento Bee file
SHRA spokesperson Angela Jones wrote in an emailed statement that the agency is not aware of any accusations of mismanagement. The agency is prioritizing serving its residents through offering public housing, voucher programs and housing finance activities, she wrote.
For Supervisor Rosario Rodriguez, an audit offers a chance to find discrepancies within organizations and called it a “very positive thing.” She also was perplexed at the city’s inaction while noting a new leader offers a fresh perspective.
“It’s a mystery,” she said.
Who is the proposed new SHRA leader?
For decades, the SHRA’s leader came from within its ranks — the city and county’s joint powers agreement required the director be chosen from employees inside the agency. Since October, SHRA has been headed by Shields, who had worked about 23 years with the agency, after the retirement of SHRA’s 18-year leader, La Shelle Dozier.
Retirement did not last long for Dozier, SHRA’s longest serving director. She’s now the CEO of Washington D.C.-based Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, a nonprofit organization that counts the country’s largest and most innovative housing authorities as its members, according to its website.
La Shelle Dozier, executive director of the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, right, joins Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, left, and members of the City Council on Aug. 17, 2020, at a press conference in Meadowview detailing the spending of up to $62.3 million in state and federal funds to address homelessness and the shortage of affordable housing. Renée C. Byer Sacramento Bee file
The move to hire an outside consultant as SHRA’s new executive director was not allowed under the current joint powers agreement. The city of Sacramento and the county sought to amend the joint powers agreement to remove language requiring the executive director to come from within SHRA’s ranks.
Warren worked in top leadership positions at public housing authorities in Tampa, Miami-Dade County and Chicago across her 25 years of experience in the affordable housing industry, according to her biography on CVR Associates’ website.
She also has experience navigating the levers of power in federal government. Warren once worked at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under then-Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing Kevin Marchman during the Clinton administration.
In Miami-Dade County, Warren was brought in 2007 to the Miami-Dade Housing Agency to fix the department. The Miami Herald in 2006 found widespread mismanagement of a few programs, which led to the federal government taking over the troubled agency, the newspaper reported.
Rodriguez hailed Warren, who does not live in California, as a very experienced individual who offers a chance to observe internal processes with a fresh set of eyes.
“So this individual, who’s been waiting to get the approval of both the city and the county, is now waiting at the mercy of the city of Sacramento,” Rodriguez said.
Shield’s contract ends March 3, according to the letter sent by Sacramento County’s CEO. He was serving in 30-day increments, and his contract was renewed four times, the letter said.
City and county at odds
The city of Sacramento and Sacramento County’s divergent views on SHRA comes as recent actions have pitted both agencies against one another.
In January, the Sacramento City Council voted to establish a new Sacramento JPA. This was at odds with the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors’ vote to create a new structure of the Continuum of Care structure that would include elected officials, according to previous Sacramento Bee reporting.
The local elected officials’ actions also coincides with a bill by state Sen. Angelique Ashby, D-Sacramento, to create another new agency to address homelessness and replace SHRA. Senate Bill 802 was referred last month to the Housing and Community Development Committee.
Maple said she sits on multiple other joint power agreements in which officials meet together. However, SHRA is the only such agency in which Maple sits where the county and city meet separately, she said.
“It is very dysfunctional for that reason,” she said.
Maple said she sought the city and county of Sacramento to have a joint conversation in public about the future of SHRA, which has not happened.
“We have to be operating not behind closed doors, and having honest conversations about what’s happening at SHRA,” she said.
Kennedy lamented how the delays could cause hardship for residents.
“In the end, it’s the residents of Sacramento, specifically those in need of housing, who are suffering from the City Council’s inaction,” he wrote.
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Ishani Desai is a government watchdog reporter for The Sacramento Bee. She previously covered crime and courts for The Bakersfield Californian.