HUD Secretary Carson: Much thought, 'hand-wringing' preceded decision to relocate people from Cairo, but the housing authority is 'nearly bankrupt'

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CAIRO — In a return letter, Housing and Urban Development Director Ben Carson tells the junior high students of Cairo that he is “so impressed” by their devotion to their hometown and thanks the children for writing to him — but he offers no concrete solutions for providing new affordable housing to keep their families in the city of Cairo or secure the future of their school.

“You are living proof of the old saying, ‘Home is where the heart is,’” reads Carson's letter addressed to the “students of Cairo Junior High.”

The letter, along with a separate one to Superintendent Andrea Evers, was hand-delivered on Tuesday afternoon by Jereon Brown, HUD’s Washington, D.C.-based general deputy assistant secretary for public affairs, who was in Cairo for a day of meetings.

“Despite our best efforts, we know that some families, your students included, may have to move outside of Cairo,” concludes Carson’s letter to Evers. “My hope would be they never forget their Cairo roots and the inspiration you’ve provided.”

Carson tells the students the relocation decision came after a lot of consideration proved it to be the only option to provide affected families with “a safer, cleaner, healthier home.”

“Since starting my new job at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in Washington, D.C., the situation in Cairo has become very important to me,” Carson writes. “I am working with very smart people who want to preserve affordable housing in Cairo.

“Sadly, many of the housing complexes there were built during World War II and have not been well cared for over the years. The problem is even more difficult because the Alexander County Housing Authority, which owns the public housing in Cairo, is facing financial challenges.”

The students seemingly took the response letters from Carson in stride. They asked questions about what his words meant for them, and also asked questions about what was next and who else they could write to for help. Social movements take time and persistence and this should be viewed as a learning experience, the educators told their students.

In the separate, longer letter to Evers, Carson said there are sadly limited viable options “for a nearly bankrupt housing authority.” Because of that, Carson wrote that there are no "economically viable strategies" available to restore the ACHA’s financial health. Hanging in the balance are not only the two developments that must be vacated, but also the ACHA’s ability to continue to manage the other developments and scattered site public housing units it owns in Cairo and nearby Thebes. Carson said that “if there was another way” HUD would “exercise that option.”

“Relocating families is not something we do without extensive thought, research, and candidly, a fair amount of hand-wringing,” Carson’s letter to Evers states. “We understand the deep ties and devotion for the place where one is born and raised. We can’t feel what the people of Cairo feel, but please understand this is not a decision without feeling.”

Carson said that “teams of experts” have been searching for viable alternative options for public housing in Cairo, including the possibilities of rebuilding or utilizing manufactured homes.

Carson blamed the lack of progress on the extreme financial situation facing the ACHA caused by generous employment and benefit agreements, and also the abnormally high utility costs in Cairo. Cairo Public Utility Co. is the city’s exclusive electric and gas provider and operates under the terms of a 30-year agreement with the city of Cairo. That contract was inked by former Mayor James Wilson while he was serving a dual role as mayor and the director of the ACHA, a position he held for 24 years.

At present, Wilson is at the center of a federal probe into the ACHA’s alleged mismanagement and misspending of federal funds, the results of which have not been publicly released. Carson told Evers that nearly half of ACHA’s units are uninhabitable due to a backlog of deferred maintenance. Additionally, his letter states, a number of residents are no longer paying rent.

As of February, $218,000 in rent payments went uncollected, Carson writes. In other communications, HUD has stated that this is because of an unofficial rent strike by residents that began around the time HUD took over the housing authority.

As a result of these factors, Carson told Evers the ACHA has “completely depleted its cash reserves and is unable to pay its bills.” Some residents and community leaders have questioned why HUD, which is charged with oversight of local housing authorities, has not stepped up to make this right since agency officials in Chicago apparently had knowledge of problems in Cairo dating back at least seven years and did little while federal dollars continued to flow into the ACHA by the millions, according to records requested from HUD by former U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Illinois, and reviewed by the newspaper.

Carson did not address those questions in his letters to the superintendent or the students.