The seventh annual “Women Build” kick-off event took place on Jan. 21 and brought a little femininity to the Habitat construction site. A giant hot pink tent draped with white and fuchsia lace stood behind the site of the future homes. The second “Women Build” event took place on Feb. 4 and included appearances by Miami Dolphins players Charles Clay and Will Allen and Miami Dolphins cheerleaders Kiley Young and Truly Gil.

Women interested in lending a hammer are encouraged to contact Jessica Herrington at 954-396-3030, ext. 211.

“When groups of women work together, it can leave such a positive impact on our community. The Habitat for Humanity of Broward “Women Build” program enables us to recruit, educate and nurture women in our community to build and advocate for simple, decent, affordable houses,” said Habitat Broward board member and Women Build committee chair Nancy Daly.

Like all Habitat homeowners, the Taylor, Myers and Anderson families will buy their homes through affordable interest-free loans. They will also contribute 400 sweat equity hours by working on the construction site or in the Habitat ReStore.

Women Build sponsors include: Marti Huizenga; Lorraine Thomas; AutoNation; Nancy Daly; Seminole Hard Rock Hotel Casino; HIP Administrators of Florida an EmblemHealth Company; Rita Case; Bromley Cook Engineering; Florida Engineering Testing, Inc.; A Flower Depot; Hunter Douglas; Janet Boyle of JB’s on the Beach; Publix Supermarkets; Square D’s – Schneider Electric; Sunshine Tents Event Rentals; and Whirlpool Corporation.

Habitat for Humanity of Broward is a nondenominational Christian housing ministry that has successfully built more than 300 homes. Habitat’s mission is to eliminate substandard housing by building simple, decent, affordable homes in partnership with low-income families. For more information, visit http://www.HabitatBroward.org. •

Board member Lois Jones laid out those recommendations in a letter to one of the housing authority’s federal funding agencies, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD. She also took issue with board chairwoman Audelia Martinez’s “cavalier” response to a recent HUD review, and for writing the response without other board members’ input.

“As a member of the board, I am highly insulted,” Jones wrote.

The Homestead Housing Authority receives part of its $20 million budget from HUD to provide rental assistance to low-income tenants.

HUD recently released the findings of its management and financial review — which was triggered in part by the board’s hiring of a new executive director, Oscar Hentschel, despite his having no previous experience and not meeting any of the advertised qualifications. Hentschel also received a $20,000 raise within months of his hire.

The HUD report points out those facts, and also points out that Hentschel does not have a contract with the housing authority, but has nonetheless been granted use of agency credit cards. Furthermore, the housing authority has no regulations regarding the use of its credit cards.

According to the report, “the use of a credit card in this manner is inappropriate use of public funds as it is not authorized under the personnel policy.”

HUD also took issue with a $1,500 emergency loan granted to Hentschel, and notes that other employees have received similar loans.

“We found no written policies and/or procedures detailing the conditions and repayment terms under which these types of loans are governed,” the report noted.

Another issue, according to the report: the housing authority has not complied with procurement policies and was unable to produce contracts for service such as legal, security and cleaning.

Board chairwoman Martinez responded to the federal report in a two-and-a-half-page letter, in which Martinez makes the following statements:

• The services for which the housing authority has no contracts have been “provided for quite a while,” and the authority will begin the correct process of finding new vendors for those services.

• The executive director had other qualifications that suit him for the job, such as a master’s degree in business administration.

• The executive director’s salary was increased to bring him up to par with other senior employees.

• Hentschel has repaid the loan, and the housing authority will not provide any more personal loans to staffers.

Board member Jones called it “disturbing” that the rest of the board was not involved in drafting the response, and that a meeting was not immediately called to discuss the report and response. She also raises new issues, such as recent firings of long-time housing authority employees, including Deputy Director Monica Rusconi, who had been there 11 years.

Jones also makes many accusations of violations of Florida’s Government in the Sunshine law, which requires government board decisions to be made in public meetings, and other misdeeds, though she does not provide evidence for those complaints.

“The state of Florida needs to step up to the plate and, using whatever authority provided to them by law or necessity, immediately disband the sitting board of the Homestead Housing Authority followed by the immediate removal of the executive director,” she wrote.

Hentschel declined to comment.

HUD’s report follows another harsh report by the housing authority’s other funding source, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA. The USDA funds housing complexes for low-wage farm workers. A November USDA report blasted the agency for allowing living conditions in its housing centers to deteriorate, while employees enjoyed generous paychecks and perks. The USDA concluded the authority has been so poorly run, since before Hentschel’s tenure, that it has required the authority to hire an outside agency to run it.

For more Homestead news, follow @Cveiga on Twitter.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 (UPI) — Existing U.S. home sales rose in January and unsold inventories declined, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

The second consecutive month of declining inventories means a reduced supply of homes in the market, which is an indication that home prices could rise. Prices have remained low since the December 2007 through June 2009 recession.

NAR said there was a 6.1-month supply of homes on the market at the current pace of sales. That is down from a 6.2-month supply in December.

At the end of the month, there were 2.31 million existing homes on the market, compared with 2.38 million in December.

The trade group said sales of single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops rose 4.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million in the month. December’s adjusted annual rate was revised lower to a 4.38 million units per year pace.

Sales for the month were also 0.7 percent higher than the 4.54 million pace from January 2011.

“The uptrend in home sales is in line with all of the underlying fundamentals — pent-up household formation, record-low mortgage interest rates, bargain home prices, sustained job creation and rising rents,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said.

NAR said sales of existing homes rose 3.4 percent in the Northeast, 1 percent in the Midwest, 3.5 percent in the South and 8.8 percent in the West.

The average median price for an existing home was $154,400 in the month, down 2.6 percent from a year earlier.

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. (ARE), a real estate investment trust, plans to issue $500 million of debt in the U.S. …

Stonington – A local developer is seeking approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission to build a $6.5 million affordable housing project on Route 1 in Pawcatuck, just west of Rutman’s Wayside Furniture.

The Spruce Meadows project calls for 44 apartments and a community building on a 3-acre site at 100-102 South Broad St.

TFB3 LLC, whose principal is Thomas Buxton, has applied for a special use permit and groundwater protection permit from the commission, which will set a public hearing date.

Forty-three of the units would be located in two, three-story buildings which would contain a mix of one-,
two- and three-bedroom apartments. A caretaker apartment would be located in the community building.

Because less than 10 percent of the town’s housing stock (4.25 percent) is deemed affordable, the project would fall under the state’s affordable housing law, which requires that 30 percent of the units be affordable according to state guidelines. This means the commission could not reject the proposal unless it could prove that the project would create substantial health and safety problems that clearly outweigh the need for affordable housing in town.

An earlier letter to the commission from project attorney Timothy Bates said the commission would also not be able to consider issues it typically does such as the impact of the project on property values, schools and tax revenue and whether it conforms with zoning regulations, the town’s comprehensive plan and neighborhood character.

Fifteen percent of the units would be available to those who earn 80 percent of the region’s current median household income of $84,400 while another 15 percent would be available to those who earn 60 percent of the regional median income. Prices are based on requirement that the household’s maximum monthly housing cost cannot exceed 120 and 100 percent, respectively, of the region’s Section 8 Fair market rent.

The commission had previously approved a commercial-residential project on the site. TFB3 is looking for a waiver of archaeological, marketing and school impact studies as well as preparing a three-dimensional model of the project as part of its application.

The project calls for 79 parking spots, which is less than what is required. Bates wrote in the application that a traffic study will show that the spots are adequate for the project.

j.wojtas@theday.com

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan on Friday awarded public housing authorities in Wisconsin more than $15 million to be used to make major large-scale improvements to their public housing units.

The grants are provided through HUD’s Capital Fund Program, which provides annual funding to all public housing authorities to build, repair, renovate and/or modernize the public housing in their communities.

This funding can be used to make large-scale improvements such as new roofs and to make energy-efficient upgrades to replace old plumbing and electrical systems.

“This funding will help housing authorities address long-standing capital improvements, but it only scratches the surface in addressing the deep backlog we’re seeing across the country,” said Donovan. “Today, we are closer to helping housing authorities and our private sector partners undertake their capital needs over the long haul. With the passage of HUD’s 2012 budget, Congress gave HUD the go-ahead for a new, comprehensive and critical demonstration tool that we believe will help preserve and enhance America’s affordable housing, including public housing.”

Among the grant recipients is the Housing Authority of the city of Superior, which will receive a grant of $606,279.

The Superior Housing Authority is working to identify a specific use for the grant funding, but a project has yet to be identified.

“These grants are essential in helping the housing authorities in Wisconsin preserve public housing in the best shape possible,” said Antonio R. Riley, HUD’s Midwest Regional Administrator.

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Low prices and plenty of inventory contributed to homebuyers finding good deals around the state in January.

The Wisconsin Realtors Association reported Monday that sales of existing homes across the state showed a 10.8 percent improvement when compared to the same month last year. For 2011, Wisconsin recorded 51,512 sales of existing homes, a 0.2 percent increase to the 51,392 logged in 2010.

The latest data shows 2,862 homes were sold in Wisconsin in January, up from 2,584 a year earlier.

WRA welcomed the improvement but remained cautious.

“While we wouldn’t want to draw too many conclusions from strong January sales figures, it is encouraging to see some strong growth patterns of the last three months continue into 2012,” Rob Keefe, WRA board chairman, said in a statement.

New listings dropped in January with many sellers pulling their homes off the market as selling prices have fallen in recent years. A total of 7,175 new listings were posted in January, a 16.4 percent drop from 8,587 a year ago.

Statewide, the median sale price was $119,500, a 7 percent drop from $128,508 a year ago.

WRA was encouraged by the drop in time it would take to sell the state’s inventory of existing homes. There were 51,158 homes available for sale across the state, down 10.1 percent from 56,920 a year ago.

WRA estimates the current inventory would take 11.8 months to sell, a drop from the 13.2-month projected time to sell in January 2011. In a healthy market, time to sell typically is between six and seven months.

Across Northeastern Wisconsin in January, 490 sales were recorded, up 22.8 percent from 399 a year ago. Median sale price was $113,200, down 3.6 percent from $117,400.

In Northeastern Wisconsin counties:

» Brown County recorded 100 sales, down 3.8 percent from 104 a year ago. Median sale price was $141,900, up 7.5 percent from $131,950.

» Door County had 27 sales, up 35 percent from 20 a year ago; $146,900 median sale prices, down 31.4 percent from $214,250.

» Kewaunee County reported 8 sales, up 60 percent from 5 in January 2011. Information on median prices was not available.

» Marinette County saw 32 sales, up 113.3 percent from 15 last year; $63,250 median price, down 12.2 percent from $72,000.

» Oconto County recorded 16 sales, down 23.8 percent from 21; $79,000 median price, down 7.1 percent from $85,000.

» Shawano County had 6 sales, down 66.7 percent from 18 in January 2011. Information on median prices was not available.