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CRA Falsely Accused of Delaying Home Improvement Funding
Agency director says Council’s claims are bogus, and he has the paperwork to prove it

By Allison Jean Eaton
Bulletin Editor

COMPTON – The Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) was scrutinized last week as lawmakers pressed its director for answers regarding what they believed to be the delayed release of federal emergency home improvement funding.

According to Councilwoman Yvonne Arceneaux, about 75 approved applicants, many who are seniors on fixed incomes, have been waiting for more then two years for the city to release funding that has already been acquired from the federal government.

“For that to happen, it’s just unimaginable to me,” Arceneaux said. “It’s been years, and the money is not being released. In fact, two have passed away while waiting.”

However, according to CRA Director Kofi Sefa-Boakye, the claims of a backlog are “a bunch of bologna.”

“There seems to be a misconception about how this program operates,” Sefa-Boakye told The Bulletin last Thursday in a telephone interview. “I’m mystified about these so-called 75 applicants because, after the meeting, I went back to my office to check the files.”

And what did he find?

Nothing.

“We don’t have any backlog of applicants that have been approved,” he said, adding that the he felt “broadsided” by the Council’s interrogation at its Sept. 2 meeting. “Right now, the 75 alleged, to me, is fictitious.”

He said the agency has, in the recent past, experienced problems in its housing component due to poor leadership prior to his taking the agency’s helm.

“Yes, we are aware that there have been some deficiencies in meeting timely demands, and this is being addressed,” he said. “There was an initial misunderstanding about how the program meets residents’ needs.”

Councilman Isadore Hall said he believed the issue was the result of a lack of follow-up on the department’s behalf.

At one point, council members went so far as to accuse Sefa-Boakye of “tap dancing” around the issue, citing it as another example of city employee behavior that should be left in the past as Compton attempts to rebirth itself.

City Atty. Craig Cornwell said he planned to look into the alleged delays the following morning.

Still, Arceneaux was not happy with the situation.

“I think that if the money is there, then we need to release the funds,” she said. “Like I said, we’ve had two die, alright?”

But according to information provided by Sefa-Boakye, her concern was apparently misguided.

Sefa-Boakye said that after the meeting, he requested Arceneaux’s office submit evidence of the purported 75 approved applications. That request yielded 23 applications, all of which he studied and discovered were still in the process of being approved. Additionally, he said the applications are not two years old, but from within the last six months.

The agency director stressed that the problem is more of a misunderstanding, citing as a prime example the Council’s demand that funding be immediately released so that construction can commence.

The funding in question is distributed through the CRA via residential rehab and fix-it grants. No money actually goes to the homeowner, but is paid to the contractor after the work is complete, not prior to the job, he said.

This is to ensure that the contractor does not skip out or perform shoddy work.

Applicants who can show their home is dilapidated to such an extent that it poses a health and safety hazard, and who can prove they are unable to afford the requisite improvements, go through an approval process that takes about two to three weeks from the time of submittal, Sefa-Boakye said.

Next, an inspector visits the home to verify the work is necessary and creates a work budget. The agency then goes out to bid. Once contractors respond, which can take weeks if not months, the applicant chooses the contractor that he or she prefers, he said.

This often serves as a bump in the road, as applicants tend to choose a contractor that wants to charge more for the work than the grant can cover.

Once a contractor within the price range is selected, the contractor pulls a permit, which can sometimes take up to a week or more. When that’s taken care of, the agency issues a notice to proceed and the contractor can begin work.

Sefa-Boakye suspects complaining individuals are those whose applications were not approved for one reason or another. Many applications, he said, are incomplete.

“Sometimes people think they are approved just because they walk through the door,” he said.

Overall, he deemed the issue as a “totally false, false, false allegation.”