Mr. Paul Tutwiler
Chief Executive Officer
Northwest Jacksonville
Community Development Corporation
3416 Moncrief Road, Suite 200
Jacksonville, Florida 32209
Dear Mr. Tutwiler,
Recently I met with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julian Castro to provide an update on the state of housing issues in my district. During our conversation, the central focus was on the 75 HUD-VASH vouchers that were awarded, and then revoked by HUDdue to your refusal to execute the vouchers after your organization was awarded the bid. It is my understanding that HUD awarded the Jacksonville Housing Authority (JHA) 75 Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers. JHA then issued a request for proposals and awarded the bid to the Northwest Jacksonville Community Development Corporation (NJCDC), where you currently serve as Chief Executive Officer. The bid was awarded to your organization with the understanding that you would place all available vouchers at your proposed Mary Eaves Independent Living Center.
Shortly after, you informed the JHA verbally that NJCDC would no longer make Mary Eaves Independent Living Center available for placement of the vouchers without citing justification for this change. Mr. Fred McKinnies, who serves as Chief Executive Officer of JHA, requested that you put your refusal to proceed with the partnership in writing so that they could construct a plan to move forward. However, JHA received no correspondence from you on this matter.
Due to your refusal to move forward with the partnership with JHA, the VASH vouchers were revoked by HUD, amounting to approximately $400,000 lost in funding per year. Now, I am working overtime to ensure that the vouchers are sent back to Jacksonville so that we can provide much-needed shelter for our nation’s heroes. Secretary Castro has assured me that he will work with my office to exhaust remaining options to remedy the issues that have left our veterans without decent housing.
As you may know, Jacksonville has the third largest population of veterans in the nation, totaling over 1.6 million. Jacksonville also has one of the largest populations of homeless veterans in the country. Your refusal to move forward with the acceptance and execution of these exclusive grants which were awarded to only a few municipalities is completely unacceptable. As community leaders and elected officials, we have an obligation to work together and do what is in the best interest of our constituency, and in this case, they are our veterans.
This is a team effort. Working together with the Jacksonville City Council, the Mayor’s Office, Department of Housing and Urban Development and Jacksonville Housing Authority to get homeless veterans off of the streets and into homes should be something that we all agree on. Instead, the lack of unity, absence of a contingency planand personal agenda of Councilwoman Denise Leeto block this project has left us without a solution.
It is reprehensible that the current process allowed Councilwoman Lee to single-handedly block a much needed veteran’s housing program simply because she did not want homeless veterans living in the community she represents. This demonstrated a true lack of leadership and willingness to do what is in the best interest of the community at large.
Moving forward, I will be calling on the City Council to implement policies and procedures which ensure that federal dollars are not awarded, rescinded or wasted due to dysfunctionalpersonal political agendas.Specifically, if a project involving a federal grantneeds approval by the council but is being arbitrarily delayed and doesn’t make it through committee by the second round, there should be a trigger-mechanism that sends it to the floor for full consideration by the entire council. This would ensure that federal funds are not lost and allow projects to move forward.
My office remains committed to working with local officials and all stakeholdersto ensure positive outcomes for federal programs. I will continue to work with Secretary Castro to ensure that HUD’s mission of creating strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all becomes a reality in the City of Jacksonville. The Secretary has ensured me that he will work with me to restore a portion of the vouchers back because when it comes to getting homeless veterans off of the street and providing care for the elderly and youth, failure is not an option!
Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact Rontel Batie who is a member of my staff: or (202) 225-0123.
Sincerely,
Corrine Brown
Member of Congress
Cc:
Mayor Alvin Brown, City of Jacksonville
Elaine Spencer, City of Jacksonville
Clay Yarborough, Jacksonville City Council
William Bishop, Jacksonville City Council
Richard Clark, Jacksonville City Council
Don Redman, Jacksonville City Council
Lori Boyer, Jacksonville City Council
Matt Schellenberg, Jacksonville City Council
E. Denise Lee, Jacksonville City Council
Warren Jones, Jacksonville City Council
Bill Gulliford, Jacksonville City Council
Jim Love, Jacksonville City Council
Kimberly Daniels, Jacksonville City Council
Stephen Joost, Jacksonville City Council
Greg Anderson, Jacksonville City Council
Robin Lumb, Jacksonville City Council
John Crescimbeni, Jacksonville City Council
Doyle Carter, Jacksonville City Council
Ray Holt, Jacksonville City Council
Reginald Brown, Jacksonville City Council
Fred McKinnies, Jacksonville Housing Authority
JHA Senior Management Team and Board
Paul Tutwiler, Northwest Jacksonville Community Development Corporation
Mayor-Elect Lenny Curry, City of Jacksonville*
Anna Brosche, Jacksonville City Council*
Tommy Hazouri, Jacksonville City Council*
Sam Newby, Jacksonville City Council*
Joyce Morgan, Jacksonville City Council*
Al Ferraro, Jacksonville City Council*
Aaron Bowman, Jacksonville City Council*
Scott Wilson, Jacksonville City Council*
Reginald Gaffney, Jacksonville City Council*
Jim Love, Jacksonville City Council*
Katrina Brown, Jacksonville City Council*
Garrett Dennis, Jacksonville City Council*
Danny Becton, Jacksonville City Council*
Community Leaders
*Denotes elected officials who have not yet been sworn into office
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