Rep. Mike Bost
U.S. Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL) is worried about residents who will be federally displaced from 53 apartments in Cairo, Ill.
Following a recent meeting in Cairo between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Alexander County (Ill.) Housing Authority (ACHA), HUD last month said the residents living in the ACHA’s Connell F. Smith Building will have to relocate because of structural concerns.
“The people of Cairo are rightfully frustrated after years of upheaval and uncertainty,” Rep. Bost said about the blighted town. “I have appealed to the Biden administration to provide these families with the clear and transparent answers they deserve regarding HUD’s latest plans to relocate local residents.
“We need to know how the agency reached this decision, whether they plan any additional relocations, and what steps are being taken to help folks find permanent housing,” he said.
In an Oct. 31 letter Rep. Bost sent to HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge, he noted that for years ACHA residents have endured substandard housing conditions “that went ignored by corrupt and negligent housing authority executives.”
From May 2010 to November 2014, HUD sent numerous letters to the ACHA outlining significant physical, managerial, and financial failures, while requesting ACHA’s plans for addressing these issues, according to his letter, and in August 2015, HUD entered into a Voluntary Compliance Agreement with the ACHA to resolve outstanding management and housing problems.
After further non-compliance, HUD in February 2016 placed the ACHA in receivership and many of the housing units in Cairo were subsequently found to be uninhabitable, and tenants were forced to move due to dangerous living conditions, wrote Rep. Bost.
“It is my understanding that HUD is now planning on relocating all residents currently living in the Connell F. Smith Building in Cairo after several studies raised concerns with the structural integrity of the apartment complex and its ability to withstand seismic activity,” he wrote. “The well-being of the… families residing in the building is paramount, and I want to ensure that they are living in safe conditions.”
And while Rep. Bost said he appreciated that HUD is attempting to act in the best interests of these residents, he wants “to ensure that every possible option is provided to them throughout the relocation process.”
Toward that goal, the congressman asked Fudge to answer several questions, including the timeline for when HUD will require the building to be vacated, what factors HUD will use to determine the timeline, where residents are eligible to move, and what resources are available to assist them, among others.