LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Thursday, Louisville Metro Housing Authority leaders went before a Metro Council committee to address issues at LMHA-owned properties.
Executive Director Lisa Osanka said LMHA is aware of complaints at the H. Temple Spears apartments and is working on solutions.
In October, Metro Council leaders visited the apartment complex and became concerned about living conditions. WHAS11 visited the complex as well, and residents told us they had issues with mold, bugs and broken doors.
Thursday, residents told WHAS11 many of those issues have not been resolved.
Robert Kirchdorfer with the city's codes and regulations department said inspectors went to H. Temple Spears last month and found multiple issues.
However, Kirchdorfer's department isn't responsible for regular inspections at LMHA-owned properties. They typically only inspect those properties when called, and only perform regular inspections of Section 8 housing.
"We don't do regular inspections on the LMHA owned units, however, we go out and will enforce property maintenance code on those units," he said.
Osanka said LMHA through the Department of Housing and Urban Development is responsible for conducting its own yearly inspections of properties like H. Temple Spears. Osanka said those inspections had been on hold during the pandemic.
"We are intending to get caught up on getting eyes and ears on those units, we did have delays due to the COVID crisis," she said.
Thursday, residents said security was still a big concern, saying doors are broken and don't lock.
Osanka said LMHA is aware of those problems and is modernizing the complex's annex to improve security, after moving residents out of those units.
LMHA also has a 5-year capital plan, planning to spend $11 million a year on maintenance and capital improvements across its properties.
Councilman Bill Hollander (D-9) questioned whether that would be enough money to get all of LMHA's units up to standard, and Osanka agreed that they could likely spend more.
Hollander pointed out that the city of Louisville doesn't put local money into public housing or LMHA (which is primarily funded through the federal government). Councilmembers suggested housing improvements may be a good use of remaining ARP funding.
Kirchdorfer said the code enforcement team will be back at H. Temple Spears for a follow up inspection on November 23rd.
Osanka said LMHA has a $130 million budget and serves 14,000 families through both Section 8 and LMHA-owned housing. They manage about 3,500 units of housing themselves and contract with management companies for another 1,000 units.
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