Mar 27, 2008

Berkeley gets new housing director

Appointment follows last year's scandal

By Kristin Bender / Bay Area News Group

Nearly a year after the Berkeley Housing Department director resigned following the mismanagement of $25 million in federal funds, the city has appointed a longtime employee to head the reorganized division.

Last week, City Manager Phil Kamlarz announced the appointment of Jane Micallef as the acting director of the housing department. The city council must approve a permanent appointment.

Micallef, 46, of Berkeley, has worked for the city since 1996 and "brings a wealth of experience to her new position," Kamlarz wrote in a memo to city staff and the council.

Micallef comes to the job as the housing department and its staff still face many challenges with affordable housing and community services, city leaders said.

"Certainly there are insufficient resources to meet the need of low-income and homeless people in Berkeley," Micallef said.

The Berkeley Housing Department previously oversaw the Berkeley Housing Authority, but the department was reorganized after the mismanagement.

The council removed itself from the responsibility of running the housing authority board and created an independent board to do the job.

Tia Ingram now heads the Berkeley Housing Authority.

Micallef said the housing department "is in the process of clarifying our mission."

Last spring, two city reports revealed that Berkeley Housing Authority employees misspent some of the $25 million they disperse annually in rental subsidies - including paying landlords rent for 15 dead or nonexistent tenants.

The department, which distributes federal Section 8 funds to subsidize the rent of 1,800 Berkeley tenants, had been labeled "troubled" by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development since 2002.

When top city staff did an independent investigation, they learned that housing authority staff blocked an investigation into problems uncovered in summer 2006.

Many people lost their jobs or were reassigned following the scandal. Housing Director Steve Barton also resigned from his position.

The scandal caused many who use the department's services and other community members to question whether the housing department could get back on stable footing.

Micallef said she is up for the challenge of taking over the reorganized department.

"The housing department is an amazing department with the most talented and dedicated staff. We are charged with implementing programs that are tremendously important to the citizens of the community and the opportunity to lead a department that is charged with this mission is an incredible opportunity