KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. — The Kings Mountain City Council voted to dissolve the city's housing authority on Tuesday, which oversees affordable housing.
The city manager told WCNC Charlotte the organization failed to maintain properties and it will soon be replaced with the Kings Mountain Redevelopment Commission. The goal is to improve services and clean up communities after living conditions have deteriorated.
Tenants in the McGill Court affordable housing community had mixed reviews on how conditions have been recent. One woman was brought to tears while sharing issues she and her friends have had with maintenance requests.
Resident Sheila Brock said she used to never have problems. "The first couple of years were really, really nice," Brock said.
However, she said things changed about a year ago.
"I called and complained and complained and they changed my air filter one time," Brock said.
Her neighbor, who wants to be anonymous, agreed: "Quality of our life has went down," she said. She held back tears while talking about issues tenants face.
"Some of the people that have townhouses, they flood, ceilings fall down around them," the neighbor added.
City manager Jim Palenick said the maintenance problems stem from a lack of leadership at the housing authority.
"Over time, the lack of qualifications and competence within both the board and the executive director caused the housing authority to stop fulfilling its obligations," Palenick explained.
He said the authority lost federal funding and stopped maintaining buildings, so now the city is stepping in.
The city council voted on Tuesday to transfer housing responsibilities to the Kings Mountain Redevelopment Commission. They also hired Veronica Williams to be the commission's new executive director.
"Her job from day one already is to put everything back in place such that the folks from HUD will find it as an acceptable operating housing authority so that they can again, certify them, allow them to start receiving funding again, and that they can get back about the business of properly maintaining those units, getting them full, and taking care of residents," Palenick said.
Renters hope they'll soon see a positive change. The management changes for the housing authority go into effect on September 13.