Problems found in more Atlantic City Housing Authority buildings

ATLANTIC CITY — Lack of hot water and a crumbling façade are worrying residents of two more Atlantic City Housing Authority properties.

The complaints came as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was in town to conduct a compliance review of the authority.

Residents of the 17-story Charles P. Jeffries Tower, one of the Housing Authority’s eight properties, say they have been without hot water for several days, and the neighboring Inlet Towers has scaffolding up to protect people from falling concrete.

Neither part-time interim Executive Director John Cooke nor board President Stephanie Marshall responded to requests for comment about the hot water and concrete problems this past week.

“We have problems with water, maintenance, leakage and flooding,” said Martin Collazo, a resident of Jeffries Towers for 4½-years. “We talk to management, but it takes months and months to repair things.”

Infestations of mice and cockroaches are common, but those are usually taken care of, he said.

Collazo, who suffers from COPD and other health problems, said residents there are low-income seniors and the disabled.

Another Jeffries resident, Francis Smith, a disabled veteran, said water has been lukewarm since last March 10, and such problems have been happening on and off since December.

“We’ve been told it’s a problem with the boiler,” Smith said. “It’s hard to take showers, and that’s my major concern.”

Heat is on, though, as is electricity, he said.

Smith has lived there five years and said he also worries about the structural conditions of Inlet and Jeffries towers because concrete has been falling off the façade of Inlet Towers. Scaffolding was up around the building Friday to protect pedestrians.

“A Compliance Review is conducted by the HUD Office of Public Housing as a monitoring mechanism for public housing authorities that are at risk,” HUD spokesperson Olga Alvarez said via email Friday.

Alvarez said hundreds of compliance reviews are done annually nationwide.

“The review does a deep dive into the housing authorities’ Governance, Management, Financial, and Physical conditions,” Alvarez said. “The Atlantic City Housing Authority is just one of several the HUD New Jersey Office of Public Housing is conducting this year.”

The reports that come out of the review will be public record once issued, Alvarez said.

Stanley Holmes Village issues

The Housing Authority’s problems with the oldest of its communities — Stanley Holmes Village — are well known. Residents at that 420-unit complex were without heat and hot water for much of October, November and part of December. And a city inspection done under emergency provisions found hundreds of health and safety violations.

HUD had also placed the authority on “zero threshold” status for several months, a move that ended in December. During that time, the authority had to get HUD approval to make even the smallest purchase or contracts. HUD said at the time it was because of concerns about the authority’s financial management.

Critics have questioned how Cooke can be the full-time executive director of the New Brunswick Housing Authority and a part-time interim executive director at the Princeton and Atlantic City housing authorities.

“HUD does not have regulations/rules related to this topic,” Alvarez said when asked if HUD does not get involved with personnel or contractual matters except to ensure the procurement process is followed.