Baltimore S Housing

What goes up will come down?About this time last spring, an article in The Sun described staggering rises in homeowners' insurance rates. In the article, insurance company representatives defended the increases by pointing to the severe winter. They said something like this: We aren't gouging the customer; we're forced to raise rates because we have so many more damage claims. We hope the customer will understand, as we had no choice.Well, I understood. I happily wrote my new sky-high homeowners' insurance check.

A public housing project next to the Johns Hopkins medical campus in East Baltimore will be torn down to make way for a mixed-use community with a hotel, library, garage and housing if the city can obtain a federal grant to help pay for it.City officials plan to apply in May for a federal "Hope VI" revitalization grant to replace the vacant 22-story Broadway Tower and the 99-unit Broadway Homes near the southeast corner of Broadway and Orleans Street.The...

Members of key congressional committees that hold the purse strings for Baltimore's Housing Authority said yesterday they were appalled at the waste in a $25 million no-bid repair program, and called Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's explanation of the problems "outrageous."In several interviews, congressmen and senators criticized the city for handing out the money without competitive bids. Taxpayers picked up the bill for inflated costs and for repairs that never were performed by the contractors.

What goes up will come down?About this time last spring, an article in The Sun described staggering rises in homeowners' insurance rates. In the article, insurance company representatives defended the increases by pointing to the severe winter. They said something like this: We aren't gouging the customer; we're forced to raise rates because we have so many more damage claims. We hope the customer will understand, as we had no choice.Well, I understood. I happily wrote my new sky-high homeowners' insurance check.

Baltimore's Housing Authority violated federal rules by awarding a $4.6 million contract last year to the highest bidder, the Nation of Islam Security Agency, the federal government says, and could be forced to repay $1 million.The ruling marks the second time in the past month that the federal government has ordered Baltimore's beleaguered housing agency to refund tax money that was either misspent or improperly used. The Housing Authority is prohibited from using federal funds to repay the money.

Consider this bureaucratic oddity in Baltimore's municipal government: Robert W. Hearn is not only the city housing commissioner but also executive director of the federally funded Housing Authority. He is the landlord to thousands of Baltimoreans living in public housing projects -- high-rise and low-rise tenements for low-income families and senior citizens.This arrangement has obvious benefits. When one man is in charge of all governmental housing programs, it ought to result in better coordination of efforts and meshing of economies.

A public housing project next to the Johns Hopkins medical campus in East Baltimore will be torn down to make way for a mixed-use community with a hotel, library, garage and housing if the city can obtain a federal grant to help pay for it.City officials plan to apply in May for a federal "Hope VI" revitalization grant to replace the vacant 22-story Broadway Tower and the 99-unit Broadway Homes near the southeast corner of Broadway and Orleans Street.The...

THE CITY COUNCIL should use the Feb. 14 reconfirmation hearing of Housing Commissioner Daniel P. Henson III as an occasion to thoroughly assess Baltimore's housing situation under the eight years of the Schmoke administration. And if it votes to give Mr. Henson another appointment, the council should establish clear performance goals for him to meet.Three years ago, when Mr. Henson was drafted by Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke to take over the troubled twin housing bureaucracies, the developer did so reluctantly.

WASHINGTON -- Suspected drug dealers, criminals and the households that harbor them would be evicted from public housing after their first offense under a "one-strike-and-you're-out" order announced yesterday by the Clinton administration.Public housing communities that evict residents for just one incident of drug crime, and also screen applicants for drug use or criminal records, could be rewarded with federal dollars under the directive to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Saying it fears bias by Baltimore's Housing Authority, one of two bidders to redevelop the site of the demolished Lafayette Courts housing project is demanding that a federally picked panel evaluate the bids.The New York-based Edmonds Group is asking that its bid on the $45 million to $65 million project to build townhouses, a high-rise for the elderly and other buildings not be opened unless the demand is granted.In a Nov. 1 letter to the Housing Authority, the developer said it wants the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, rather than the city agency, to appoint the selection panel.

WASHINGTON -- Suspected drug dealers, criminals and the households that harbor them would be evicted from public housing after their first offense under a "one-strike-and-you're-out" order announced yesterday by the Clinton administration.Public housing communities that evict residents for just one incident of drug crime, and also screen applicants for drug use or criminal records, could be rewarded with federal dollars under the directive to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

THE CITY COUNCIL should use the Feb. 14 reconfirmation hearing of Housing Commissioner Daniel P. Henson III as an occasion to thoroughly assess Baltimore's housing situation under the eight years of the Schmoke administration. And if it votes to give Mr. Henson another appointment, the council should establish clear performance goals for him to meet.Three years ago, when Mr. Henson was drafted by Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke to take over the troubled twin housing bureaucracies, the developer did so reluctantly.

Saying it fears bias by Baltimore's Housing Authority, one of two bidders to redevelop the site of the demolished Lafayette Courts housing project is demanding that a federally picked panel evaluate the bids.The New York-based Edmonds Group is asking that its bid on the $45 million to $65 million project to build townhouses, a high-rise for the elderly and other buildings not be opened unless the demand is granted.In a Nov. 1 letter to the Housing Authority, the developer said it wants the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, rather than the city agency, to appoint the selection panel.

Baltimore's Housing Authority violated federal rules by awarding a $4.6 million contract last year to the highest bidder, the Nation of Islam Security Agency, the federal government says, and could be forced to repay $1 million.The ruling marks the second time in the past month that the federal government has ordered Baltimore's beleaguered housing agency to refund tax money that was either misspent or improperly used. The Housing Authority is prohibited from using federal funds to repay the money.

Baltimore's Housing Authority violated federal rules by awarding a $4.6 million contract last year to the highest bidder, the Nation of Islam Security Agency, the federal government lTC says, and could be forced to repay $1 million.The ruling marks the second time in the past month that the federal government has ordered Baltimore's beleaguered housing agency to refund tax money that was either misspent or improperly used. The Housing Authority is prohibited from using federal funds to repay the money.

Members of key congressional committees that hold the purse strings for Baltimore's Housing Authority said yesterday they were appalled at the waste in a $25 million no-bid repair program, and called Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's explanation of the problems "outrageous."In several interviews, congressmen and senators criticized the city for handing out the money without competitive bids. Taxpayers picked up the bill for inflated costs and for repairs that never were performed by the contractors.

Baltimore's Housing Authority violated federal rules by awarding a $4.6 million contract last year to the highest bidder, the Nation of Islam Security Agency, the federal government lTC says, and could be forced to repay $1 million.The ruling marks the second time in the past month that the federal government has ordered Baltimore's beleaguered housing agency to refund tax money that was either misspent or improperly used. The Housing Authority is prohibited from using federal funds to repay the money.

The federal government and Baltimore's Housing Authority announced yesterday a 30-day cleanup plan for the deteriorating Lexington Terrace public housing project with an infusion of $2.2 million in federal funds.Officials from the Housing Authority of Baltimore City and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development emerged from a two-hour meeting, saying they were forming an "action team" to come up with both short-term and long-term solutions to improve living conditions, tighten security, clean up the property and provide job training for tenants of the five high-rise buildings in West Baltimore.

The federal government and Baltimore's Housing Authority announced yesterday a 30-day cleanup plan for the deteriorating Lexington Terrace public housing project with an infusion of $2.2 million in federal funds.Officials from the Housing Authority of Baltimore City and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development emerged from a two-hour meeting, saying they were forming an "action team" to come up with both short-term and long-term solutions to improve living conditions, tighten security, clean up the property and provide job training for tenants of the five high-rise buildings in West Baltimore.

Consider this bureaucratic oddity in Baltimore's municipal government: Robert W. Hearn is not only the city housing commissioner but also executive director of the federally funded Housing Authority. He is the landlord to thousands of Baltimoreans living in public housing projects -- high-rise and low-rise tenements for low-income families and senior citizens.This arrangement has obvious benefits. When one man is in charge of all governmental housing programs, it ought to result in better coordination of efforts and meshing of economies.