The city of East Grand Forks could see substantial changes in the coming months by transferring control of its Section 8 housing voucher program to an outside agency and by hiring a new economic development director.
Previous plans regarding city’s Economic Development and Housing Authority’s housing program only involved transferring the management of the voucher program over to the Northwest Minnesota Multi-County Housing and Redevelopment Authority based in Mentor, Minn.
But a complete transfer is being proposed because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development wants to consolidate the number of agencies it works with.
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City Administrator David Murphy said transferring the program over to the Mentor agency would save the city money because the agency has a smaller reserve fund and is eligible for more reimbursements, while the city of East Grand Forks’ larger reserve fund is only eligible for 75 percent reimbursement for some costs.
With the housing authority transferred over to another agency, the city is still in need of a replacement for former EDHA Director Jim Richter, who retired in May during the controversy involving the discovery of a $510,000 loan that had gone unpaid for more than a decade.
Murphy said the EDHA is considering asking consultants at either Springsted Inc. or Brimeyer-Fursman to recruit the new director. The recruiting process would take about three months, making the beginning of November the earliest possible date to expect a new director.
Call Richie at (701) 780-1134; (800) 477-6572, ext. 1134 ; or send email to grichie@gfherald.com .
