FeedsCouncil decision allows for public housing fixes
The Inkster Housing Commission will be able to borrow $4.4 million in funds to make improvements to public housing units.
The city council approved a change Monday night to Ordinance 99, allowing them to borrow the money.
Councilman Ron Johnson voted against the change; Councilman Marcus Hendricks abstained. Councilwoman Wanda Harris Foster was absent. The remaining council members approved it.
Changing the ordinance has been a subject of debate because approval means that units that are not occupied will be renovated and re-opened, which will increase the number of public housing units open to residents in the city.
Tony Love, the director of Inkster Public Housing, said Monday night that the funds would be used for long-term improvements.
“It’s unfortunate that some repairs were not made as they went along,” he said.
“We could take some of our capital improvement funds from HUD to make changes to LeMoyne, then later to Demby, but we need to be able to make the changes at once,” he added. “We’re tired of the Band-Aid approach.”
Johnson said he voted against the change because he believed that by borrowing the money, the commission is creating more financial obligations for itself.
“They can’t take care of the units they have,” he said. “Now they’re going to have to pay 30 percent of their capital improvement funds towards this loan.”
Love denied that assertion.
The debate about public housing, as it relates the number units in the city, has cast a shadow over the ordinance change, which was requested by commission lawyers as a condition of the housing loan application process. James Orr, a resident of public housing, said he was glad the commission could apply for the loans.
“Now maybe we can finally get something done,” he said.
Willie Johnson, a city resident, wasn’t so sure.
“We need less public housing, not more,” he said.
The change that allows the commission to ask for the loan means that it can also ask for other loans – without requiring approval of the council first.
The long road to the ordinance change began last year, when the council initially asked for council support in changing the provisions. At first, four council members resisted – but Michael Canty, then DeArtriss Coleman-Richardson, came on board with the plan, which gave the commission the majority vote needed.
