Housing program doesn’t breed crime

Since I became the CEO of the Columbia Housing Authority in January 2006, I have learned a great deal about CHA’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program and have worked hard to respond to community concerns and misperceptions about this important housing assistance program. I have also learned that when these misperceptions - and sometimes gross exaggerations - are repeated often enough, people start to believe they are true. Let’s start with the basics.

There is no specific "Section 8 housing" in Columbia and Boone County. CHA has 1,062 Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, which are issued to income-eligible households. The recipients are free to choose rental housing anywhere in Columbia and Boone County. Section 8 vouchers are not attached to any specific property but to households. All adults in the household must pass a criminal background check and are denied assistance if they have a record of violent or drug-related criminal activity in the past five years. More on this later.

Section 8 is not free housing. Eligible households pay 30 percent of their adjusted household income in rent. CHA pays the balance and provides a small (but not nearly adequate) utility allowance, which is included in the rent calculation. The household share of rent is adjusted up or down when income changes.

HUD establishes a fair market rent (FMR) for our area to make sure landlords are paid a fair rent while also ensuring HUD (and CHA) pay a fair rent no higher than the regular market rent. CHA conducts rent comparison studies to ensure fair rents for all concerned. Households are issued a voucher based on their size. A two-parent household with two children might receive a two- or three-bedroom voucher based on the age and gender of the children. They cannot go out and rent a five-bedroom house.

Now the search begins. An eligible household has 60 days to find the right size rental housing with a fair market rent and a landlord who will agree to participate in the Section 8 program. Landlords are under no obligation to participate in the program or accept households with a Section 8 voucher.

Source and More:
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Oct/20081028Comm008.asp

Of coarse there are two sides to every story so please if you find the article in question go do your own research on this issue. :)

New Seruity Upgrades For Paquin Tower

The main staff of the Columbia Housing Authority has been talking about new and improved security upgrades for the Paquin Tower residential facility.

These upgrades are being discussed as a result of many complaints by residents of unwanted types of people coming and going at all hours of the day and night at Paquin Tower by people who do not live with in the facility.

This has been a chronic problem and a ongoing issue with the facility since it was originally built in 1973.

Some of the upgrades being discussed are:

New modern cameras that can do face recognition,wider angle and father areas of vision capabilities with a higher resolution/definition of picture quality.

New pass cards that can expire if needed so they can be coded special.

Tighter restrictions on access hours.

Possibility of more Security Patrols both inside and outside.

A better Resident Watch Program in the future.

The possibility of going to a 24 hour card access only program.

All of these ideas are on the table now and a "pilot program period" is being looked into to see just how it would and can be all worked out.

All of this is for the safety of the at risk residents who live at Paquin Tower who are either Physically,Mentally Disabled or due to elderly care and economic needs and for their sense of security.

The residents of Paquin Tower are looking forward to these new security measures and upgrades to help make their building safer not only for them but to show the community as a whole that as a "Micro Resident Association" with in the First Ward of the City of Columbia that they do care about their neighborhood.

The Paquin Tower 100 Hat Project

Paquin Tower Recreation program is celebrating its third year for our 100 Hats project. Throughout the year, several participants get together and crochet or knit hats to donate to local shelters for the holidays. It is our goal to make at least 100 hats. In the past years, we have been successful in creating more than 100 hats.

The majority of the yarn used to make the hats has been donated and some of it has come from Reuseables. Currently, participants have made about 50 hats, so we have a long way to go to make our goal and Christmas is just around the corner!

Learn how to make a hat by joining us on October 21 at 2 p.m. Participants meet in the craft room at Paquin Tower, and we all enjoy good conversation while making hats for a good cause. Call 874-7473 for information or e mail slbowman@gocolumbiamo.com

Source: Sarah Bowman Adaptive Recreational Program Specialist

Paquin Tower bus driver helps residents

Thursday afternoon, Jim Umstattd was all set to drive seven residents of Paquin Tower home from Aldi, a supermarket on Business Loop 70.
But Mike Bishop was still sitting in his motorized wheelchair, packing up his groceries.
Without saying a word, Umstattd walked up to Bishop, who handed him an insulated bag. Umstattd began arranging the groceries — hoagies, salsa, pickles — inside the bag.
Then he placed it between Bishop's legs on the wheelchair, and the two went out to the van, a 14-seater Umstattd had parked just outside the supermarket entrance.
It was one of countless ways Umstattd demonstrates his willingness to help.
"It just seems to me to be part of the job," said Umstattd, once a resident of Paquin Tower himself.
"I mean, if someone has, like, a dozen bags of groceries, do you just stand back and watch them struggle ... or do you pick up some of them and help them get on? It just seems like the natural thing to do, don't you think?"
Umstattd has been driving Paquin Tower's residents to sporting events, restaurants and supermarkets in a wheelchair-friendly van as a part-time job for the past six years.
The residents love him for his help, which frequently extends beyond transportation to many little kindnesses. But he doesn't let their appreciation go to his head; he doesn't want to be characterized as a saint.
Yet, the residents are beginning to realize that he may not be around forever. In August, the Columbia City Council nearly cut funding for Department of Parks and Recreation programs at Paquin Tower, which include the trips with Umstattd. After residents protested, the council reinstated funding for another year.
Since then, Parks and Recreation staffers who work at Paquin Tower have been looking for alternative methods to fund the program.
But Umstattd, 61, is planning to look for another job, one that pays more and is not in jeopardy.
And as early as November, the not-for-profit center, Services for Independent Living, will take responsibility for trips to the supermarket.
In the meantime, he keeps extending his hand. The son of a janitor and a nurse's aide, he grew up in Hannibal, attending MU and eventually moving into Paquin Tower to care for a man who was disabled.
He met his wife, Rosie, at about the same time, and in 1980, the two moved into their own home. After doing clerical work in Ellis Library for 15 years, Umstattd took a job with Services for Independent Living, helping the disabled live as independently as possible.
When his wife returned to Paquin Tower to work for Parks and Recreation, he followed and began driving the van.
Residents say he is much more than a bus driver.
"He knows what to do with the participants, 'cause he's been around here so long," said resident Charles Dudley Jr. as he leaned up against the van in the Aldi parking lot.
If the city were to end the program, the Umstattds would have to leave. "The city would be getting rid of two very good volunteers," Dudley said.
A few weeks ago, Umstattd spent hours hooking up a television set for Paquin Tower resident David Dollens. He "wouldn't charge, wouldn't take nothing," Dollens said.
If Umstattd's service were to stop, residents say, a city bus would drop them off across the street from Aldi, leaving them to cross Business Loop 70 on their own.
And when buses go to the Wal-Mart on Conley Road, they drop off passengers far from the entrance, leaving them to navigate traffic, snow and other obstacles. Umstattd drops them right at the door, they say.
He also takes a personal interest in the welfare of his passengers.
On Thursday, as Umstattd drove out of the Aldi parking lot, his cell phone rang. It was his wife.
After Umstattd hung up, he called out, "Mike?"
Bishop shifted his attention from his view out the window and turned to Umstattd.
"Yeah," he said.
"You left your door locked, and your housekeeper couldn't get in the door," Umstattd told him.
"That's one of those things (Umstattd does) that nobody else does," Dollens said.

Comments:
ray shapiro
Transportation workers throughout Columbia could learn a thing or two from the exemplary service oriented Mr. Umstattd. He is the most patient, even-tempered care provider, I have ever known. Losing him, because of Parks & Rec budget constraints, would leave an irreplaceable void for the disabled residents at Paquin Tower.
He and his wife, Rosie make a unique professional team in an otherwise lackluster enviornment.
What a shame it is for the city of Columbia to even consider turning its back on such quality care.
No other transportation service for the disabled comes close to what Mr. Jim Umstattd naturally delivers to those who need more than "just a ride!"

Charles Dudley Jr
Yes Mr. Jim Umstattd does so much while on the clock and also while he is off the clock such as the following examples of off the clock work: helping David Dollens with his TV or helping Dr David Foley who has a history of Epilepsy to get around town or to his doctor or even just extra shopping trips. Mr. Jim Umstattd is more than just your average City Employee and as ray shapiro stated above alot of transportational personnel in Columbia could learn alot from this one man.
My question is it the City's policy to get rid of experienced personnel who are valuable to the community as a whole?

Source:
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/10/06/pa/

Paquin Tower sees a new face in management

Paquin Tower sees a new face in management

Just recently Paquin Tower has seen a brand new face in the Management Team of C.H.A.

The new Assistant Manger's name is Penny Harrington and she has worked for C.H.A. for over one year now and her husband also works for C.H.A. too.

So the residents hope to see a lot more going on in the main managerial office of Paquin Tower as far as complaints being handled more expediently in the future and this should free up more time for the Housing Manager Lee Radtke to address other issues in the building as well.

This is the end of the fiscal year for C.H.A. and as such this is a great way to start off the new year to come.

We hope to see Penny around the floors and helping residents with their needs and issues as they come up.

Resident Advisory Board R.A.B.

Resident Advisory Board R.A.B.

Tonight was the first meeting of the year of the Resident Advisory Board that is a fundamental part of the Columbia Housing Authority. The Resident Advisory Board is made up of residents from all of the residential housing programs run by the Columbia Housing Authority in the City of Columbia.

This first meeting tonight was the first get together to introduce all of the new Advisory Board Members and a chance for all to get together to learn how the Resident Advisory Board works and handles issues relating to all residents with in the jurisdiction of the Columbia Housing Authority.

The next meeting of the Resident Advisory Board will be on November 5 2008 at Paquin Tower. This is a closed meeting only open to those Advisory Board Members of the Resident Advisory Board.