to:

Stabilize communities that have suffered from aban-donment and foreclosure.

Ensure the longest feasible continued affordability.

Integrate energy effi-ciency and sustainability into project development.

The solar water heaters are one of the standout upgrades in-cluded as part of the green rehab. In addition to the water heaters, this rehab will include high seer variable speed HVAC systems, low volume plumbing fixtures, energy star appliances, and insulations that exceed building code require-ments.

Southwest Florida Affordable Housing Choice Foundation is attempting to provide the most energy efficient and affordable housing in Lee County, but they understand there’s more to green building than just saving money on energy bills. It’s about enhancing the quality of life.

The Broadway project will serve as a benchmark for green affordable housing. As a result of the green rehab efforts, the Broadway project is currently pursing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Platinum certification.

Written By Jeff Caliguri

Real Estate Development Department

tects and, Chris-Tel Construction is underway with the construction of their first “Green Rehab” project in Fort Myers. This collaborative rehab is on Broadway Apartments, which is an affordable housing development located near City of Palms Park. The most exciting element of the project is the installation of solar water heaters in all units on the property.

The solar water heater system is composed of a roof mounted collector system and a standard water heater tank inside the unit. The solar controller will activate the circulation system and standard water heater tank inside the unit. The solar controller will activate the circulation module, which pushes water up to the solar collectors and begins circulation. The solar water system is designed to operate automatically, taking advantage of solar energy. When solar energy is unavailable, or when heated water is not required, the system will turn off.

For the more than 40 future residents who will live in the Broadway Apartments, this 80% reduction in water heating will be an important financial savings which will directly contribute to their quality of life. The project is being funded by Lee County through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. According to the NSP website, the goals of NSP are

The Housing Authority of the City of Fort Myers (HACFM) and Norstar Accolade Property Management in partnership with Family Health Centers of Southwest Florida, Inc. is proud to announce the opening of an on-site family medical clinic in the Community Supportive Services Building (CSS) located at 4211 Romeo Lane, Fort Myers, FL 33916. In June 2011, Family Health Centers hired nurse Nicole Failla as a health educator to provide disease management and preventative care services. Residents in the Renaissance Preserve Senior and Family housing develop-ments will receive health screenings, such as diabetes testing, blood-sugar and blood pressure checks. Nicole will also educate residents and patients on the dangers of untreated chronic diseases.

Family Health Center’s pres-ence is the Dunbar community is the area’s go-to-primary health care organizations for low-income residents. The clinic will be open two days a week on Tuesdays and Thurs-days from 8:00 am—5:00 pm.

Written by:

Twaski Jackson

CSS/Section 3 Coordinator

Southwest Florida Affordable Housing Choice Foundation along with partners GLE Archi-

HACFM and Norstar Accolade Property Management

Inside this issue:

Executive Director’s Message

2

Employee Spotlight 3

Housing & Maintenance Department

3 &4

Section 8/Housing Choice Voucher Dept.

4 &5

Resident Services Department

6

CRC/ Board of Commissioners City Officials

7

HACFM Leadership Team

8

Special points of interest:

Family Health Centers now open at the Renaissance Family located in the CSS Building

“First Green Rehab” Will Deliver Savings to Tenants

SEPTEMBER 2011

HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF FORT MYERS

THIRD QUARTER Keeping In Touch Newsletter

Southwest Florida Affordable Housing Choice Foun-dation’s First “Green Rehab” Will Deliver Savings to Tenants, Fort Myers FL By Jeff Caliguri

authority from the ground up, and you can only accomplish that by improving your housing stock. The challenge is, and always will be, how you find the financial re-sources to fund such an en-deavor. With no HOPE VI dollars available where will the seed money come from? These things must be decided before we move forward with any redevelopment strategy, and before we get the community excited about the next big project. So you see, unlike the weather forecast that predicted a very active storm season, which never materialized, we must take a different approach and offer modest predictions for success. Regardless of how hard we try to minimize our goals for the next redevelopment project, the success of the HOPE VI project raised the expectations of the community towards any project we undertake.

Therefore as a staff we can’t afford to spend time celebrating past accomplish-ments because a repeat per-formance has been requested by the community. Simply put, we have to avoid the pitfalls that accompany suc-cess, which is being content with our past accomplish-ments.

Sincerely,

Marcus D. Goodson Executive Director

Greetings,

Another summer has come and almost past without a major storm hitting southwest Florida, we should rejoice in the fact that we have been spared another hurricane while many other parts of the country struggled through major catastrophes. Storms this time of year are so unpre-dictable, which creates such anxiety among residents when weather predictions paint such a grim picture at the start of the hurricane sea-son only to be marginalized when reality is less dramatic than predictions. For this same reason we should exer-cise caution when announcing the next redevelopment project (s) for our housing authority. With the aforemen-tioned disclaimer, I offer the following redevelopment goals and objectives for the coming months. On the heels of successfully closing out our HOPE VI project admin-istratively (the physical con-struction is still underway and will continue for another twelve months) we must now turn our efforts to delivering the next big project.

The Housing Authority of the City of Fort Myers (HACFM) has experienced great fortune starting with the announce-ment of our 2005 HOPE VI grant award. We have suc-cessfully parlayed those funds into a much larger project by accessing the tax-credit pro-gram along with local finan-cial contributions. Our chal-lenge now as a staff lies in our ability to meet the expec-tations of the greater commu-nity to repeat our past success on the next project. If you reside in Fort Myers and are

familiar with our HOPE VI site as well as the other developments we manage, you can quickly recognize the need to redevelop Sabal Palm apartments. When compared with other developments we manage, Sabal Palm does not show as well and there-fore would be a great candi-date for a major redevel-opment effort. However, we must keep in mind that rede-velopment projects are not as simple as using Capital Fund dollars to replace kitchen cabinets and install new floor-ing. A redevelopment project is much more involved and requires creative financing along with a development partner to assist the housing authority with leveraging the funds needed to finance the deal.

As a housing authority, part of our mission is to provide decent housing for our residents. So what is decent housing? Obviously the word decent in this case is subjective. If we use our HOPE VI site as the measure, and trust me, the community is now using that site as their measure of decent housing, we must certainly need to draft a plan to redevelop other public housing sites, including Sabal Palm to meet community expectations. As we strategize about our next redevelopment project, we must be careful not to focus on our HOPE VI site as the only picture of what success looks like. Each development has characteristics that make it unique to that community of people, which must be preserved in the final product. Our goal has always been to build a better housing

Third Quarter Newsletter Message from the Executive Director, Marcus D. Goodson

“As a housing authority,

part of our mission is to

provide decent housing

for our residents. So

what is decent housing?”

Keeping In Touch Newsletter Page 2

for attending the annual up-date which is making sure that household composition has not changed and new signatures are needed on all paperwork.

For more information on the benefits of either flat or income based rent contact your property manager.

More public housing informa-tion on page 4.

Rent Options:

Once a year, at the annual re-certification, tenants have the opportunity to choose be-tween Income Based Rent or Flat Rent

Income based rent means that your rent will be based on the amount of household income you report or that the housing authority finds during the annual re-examination. You must report all new income within 10 days of getting the income to be compliant with HUD regulations or PHA

policy. By choosing income based rent you’re entering into a one (1) year lease.

Flat Rent means that you are entering into a three (3) year lease and you do not have to report household income annually except at the next re-examination. Those who choose flat rent have the opportunity to save to purchase a home in the future by being able to hold more than one job or earning as much income as they can during the three (3) year lease. You are responsible

“The man of wisdom is never

of two minds; the man of

benevolence never worries; the

man of courage is never afraid.

The fact is, that to do anything

in the world worth doing, we

must not stand back shivering

and thinking of the cold and

danger, but jump in and

scramble through as well as we

can.” Inspirational Quote by

Robert Cushing

Public Housing Lease Reminders Sherri Campanale-Director of Housing & Maintenance

Employee Spotlight

THIRD QUARTER Page 3

Welcome the new HACFM staff, starting left to

right and bottom picture name and department.

LaKreshia Houston-Taylor

Property Manager/Horizons

Akilah Ingram— Assistant Manager/Sabal Palm

Davidson Voltaire— Maintenance

Mark VanSlyke - Maintenance Supervisor

requirement apply

Broadway (scheduled to open late 2011)

Stella (scheduled to open in 2012)

Covington Meadow (now open)

Public Housing

All public housing devel-opments have open wait-list; Horizons, Palmetto Court, Southward Vil-lage, Bonair Towers and Royal Palm Towers

Community Service:

Just a reminder that failure to perform HUD’s mandated Community Service will in non renewal of your lease agreement. HUD mandates that eight (8) hours of service is required for anyone who is not employed, involved in TANF’s FSS Program, at-tending school full time or participating in HACFM’s FSS Program. Remember, community services is a requirement not an option.

Trash and authorized items left outside front doors: All residents are responsible for

keeping their front door area clean at all times and free of any authorized items such as tables, chairs, toys, bikes, etc. All unauthorized items will be removed by maintenance and the tenants account will be charged a labor fee.

HACFM will no longer allow residents to put their bulk trash such as couches, tables or chairs in the dumpsters. All residents are responsible for taking their large items to the dump.

WAITLIT OPEN for all developments:

NSP Developments—Income

The following table shows the Proposed F2012 FMR’s by unit bedrooms for Lee County, Florida.

for a payment standard must be within a 90% and 110% of the Fair Market Rent. Last year’s FMR for FY2011 reflected a 3.2% decrease but the new proposal would reflect another 16.7% decrease. See page 5 for more information.

It appears that HUD is pro-posing to decrease the Fair Market Rents for the Lee County and Cape Coral jurisdiction by an average of 16.7%. This study would

have an impact on the amount of HAP Expenses paid by the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program. All PHA’s are required to set a Payment Standard for each bedroom size voucher. The basic range

Lori Rosado, Section 8 Director FY2012 Fair Market Rent The Proposed FY2012 Lee County FMR’s for All Bedroom Sizes

Public Housing Community Service Hours/Trash Authorized Items/Waitlist Open NSP Development & Public Housing

Keeping In Touch Newsletter Page 4

Proposed FY2012 FMRs By Unit Bedrooms

Efficiency One-

Bedroom

Two-Bedroom

Three-Bedroom

Four-Bed-room

Proposed FY2012 FMR

$674 $728 $829 $1,127 $1,160

Final FY2011 FMR

$810 $874 $996 $1,354 $1,393

Percent-age Change

-16.8% -16.7% -16.8% -16.8% -16.7%

voucher waiting list is CLOSED. However, we are anticipating opening the waitlist soon for a limited time. Please visit our website at www.hacfm.org for more information. As soon as the waitlist is open to the public, we will advertise the details on our website, local news-papers and local social ser-vices agencies.

FY2011 Income Limits effective May 31, 2011

HUD publishes Income Lim-its in three categories; Low (80% of Area Median In-come), Very Low (50% of Area Median Income), and Extremely Low (30% of Area Median Income). How-ever, to be eligible as a New Admission to the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, applicants CAN-NOT EXCEED the Very Low Income Limits. Chart list below, Lee County Florida area.

Property owners in Lee County have become familiar with renting their units to Section 8 Voucher holders since it provides a guarantee monthly payment and a Hous-ing Assistant Payment (HAP) Contract for 12 months as long as the family is residing in the assisted unit and is eligible for continued assis-tance. With the rise of fore-closure properties in Lee County came the rise of avail-able vacant units at affordable rental prices within the Voucher Payment Standards.

The current Payment Stan-dards for the Section 8 Voucher Program with the HACFM is within the basic range of the proposed FMR. We are anticipating keeping the payment standards as is, see the chart below.

Project-Based Vouchers– The Homes at Renaissance Preserve

The new Homes at Renais-sance Preserve offers selected units to the Section 8 Voucher holders. If you are on the Section 8 voucher waiting list, you will receive a prefer-ence to apply and determine eligibility to move to the Homes at Renaissance Pre-serve with assistance through the Section 8 Project-Based Voucher Program. If you are a current Section 8 voucher participant wanting to relo-cate to the Renaissance Pre-serve Family units, you will receive immediate assistance and have the opportunity to transfer your current Housing Choice Voucher to a Project-Based Voucher. Please con-tact the Section 8 department to speak with a Housing Counselor to begin this trans-fer.

Section 8 waitlist applica-tions coming soon!

At this time, the Section 8

VASH-Veterans Affairs

Supportive Housing

The HACFM has been issued a

total of 160 Vash Vouchers.

These special vouchers are

designated strictly to assist low

income homeless veterans with a

Section 8 Voucher. However, the

HACFM will only assist

Veterans referred by the

Veterans Administration VASH

case manager. At the present

time we are working closely with

the VA to provide housing.

The Proposed FY2012 Lee County FMRs for All Bedroom Size Continued

THIRD QUARTER Page 5

Effective 10/1/2011 Proposal

0-BR 1-BR 2-BR 3-BR 4-BR Proposed FY2012 FMR

$674 $728 $829 $1,127 $1,160

Proposed FY 2012 Pmt Stan-dard

$729 $787 $897 $1,219 $1,254

Lee County, Florida

FY 2011 In-

come Limit Area

Median Income

FY 2011

Income Limit Cate-gory

1 Per-son

2 Per-son

3 Per-son

4 Per-son

5 Per-son

6 Per-son

7 Per-son

8 Person

Lee County

$56,200

Very Low

(50%) Income Limits

$20,550 $23,450 $26,400 $29,300 $31,650 $34,000 $36,350 $38,700

Ex-tremely

Low (30%)

Income Limits

$12,350 $14,100 $15,850 $17,600 $19,050 $20,450 $21,850 $23,250

Low (80%)

Income Limits

$32,850 $37,550 $42,250 $46,900 $50,700 $54,450 $58,200 $61,950

Congratulations to our recent FSS graduates: Vonetta Vick-ers and Terrance Murray. Mr. Murray recently enrolled into our Homeownership Voucher Program and is planning to close on a house by next month. He was awarded funding through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program of Lee County.

Homebuyers Education Classes are held on the first Saturday of each month starting at 9:30 am. Our classes are hosted at a man-ageable size, very informative and best of all it is free of charge. HBE is a necessary requirement for those seeking to purchase a home. Certificates expire after one (1) year.

We resumed our Job Club Program hosted every Tues-day from 9:30 am—11:30 am. This program is open to both residents and the community. Do you have a resume and/or would like to learn interview-ing tips and computer skills?

Please visit our website at www.hacfm.org or give us a call at (239) 332-3825

Palmetto Court Neighbor-hood Network Center Third Quarter Article

The PCNNC days and times for the free food delivery has changed. We will now deliver food to the family develop-ments on the 1st and 4th Tuesdays and Thursdays of each month. We also provide snacks and treats for the youth.

Boys & Girls Club of Lee County

Calling all boys and girls, please bring your parents so they can register you in the Boys & Girls Club after school program. They re-opened for operation at the Palmetto Court Neighborhood Network Center September 12, 2011, from 2:30 pm—6:00 pm Monday—Friday. The computer lab will con-tinue to be open to the fami-lies and community 8:00 am—3:00 pm. All individu-als needing assistance must be accompanied by the PCNNC Coordinator, Anne Bailem. The computer lab serves as an avenue for our residents to educate them-selves with computer technol-ogy and job search. Residents

needing assistance with writ-ing or updating their resumes must see the Coordinator at PC. We also provide assis-tance with Florida Access, unemployment, community service, information and referrals.

The Palmetto Court Resident Council meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month. It is our goal to increase resident participation and we encourage PC to get involved and improve the enthusiasm and community spirit of other residents. Come out and assist in planning future events for your neighborhood.

For more information please feel free to contact Anne Bailem, the PCNNC Coordi-nator at (239) 461-7223 or stop by, 1829 Maryland Ave-nue, Fort Myers, Fl 33916, Unit E-14.

Family Self-Sufficiency and Homebuyers Education

The resident services staff recently hosted a Life Skills Class in August and Septem-ber. We will continue to offer these sessions until our PH FSS Program is filled.

sign-up to participate.

The Elderly Services Coordina-tor is available at each of our senior developments; to help empower senior residents to continue living independently, by providing access to in-home services and links to various resources within the commu-nity. Please contact me at (239) 332-3825 extension 309 Monday—Friday 8:00 am—5:00 pm. Office hours are posted at each senior develop-ment.

Mederi Caretenders has been on site at Bonair Towers and Royal Palm Towers for one (1) year. They recently added visits to Renaissance Preserve Senior Apartments. The on-site nurses have hosted weekly blood pressure clinics and monthly health seminars and have done a great job at keeping our senior residents healthy with preventive care. This year, to spice things up a bit, the Mederi Caretenders will host their annual dinner party to launch the “Come

Celebrate Your Life” Pro-gram. This program will pro-vide a quarterly birthday party at each senior develop-ment. It is an open invitation for everyone to join in and celebrate life. There will be birthday cake and other re-freshments served, along with fun games, raffles, door prizes and a special surprise for the birthday honorees. Every “Come Celebrate Your Life” event will have a differ-ent theme, so be sure to look for the flyers posted, and

The Senior Corner By Jennifer Avin/Elderly Services Coordinator

RESIDENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT, Vivian Watkins-Director of Resident Services/FSS Coordinator

“Calling all boys and

girls please bring

your parents so they

can register you in

the Boys& Girls Club

after school

program.”

Keeping In Touch Newsletter Page 6

Joseph D’Alessandro, Chairman

Peter Routsis-Arroyo, Vice Chairman

Bill Barnwell, Commissioner

Lemuel Teal, Commissioner

E. Bruce Strayhorn, Commissioner

Douglas A. Hogg, Commissioner

Mattie Young, Commissioner

Mayor Randy Henderson

William P. Mitchell—City Manager

City Council

Teresa Watkins-Brown—Ward 1

Johnny W. Streets Jr.—Ward 2

Levon Simms—Ward 3

Michael Flanders—Ward 4

Forrest Banks—Ward 5

Thomas Leonardo—Ward 6

“Schedule Your Event

TODAY!

Call: (239) 344-6433”

The City of Fort Myers

Housing Authority of the City of Fort Myers Board of Commissioners

Dr. Carrie Robinson Center Schedule Your Event Today! Call:(239) 344-6433

THIRD QUARTER Page 7

Leadership Team

Marcus D. Goodson—Executive Director

Sherri Campanale—Director of Housing/Maintenance

Vicki Collins—Director of Finance/Human Resources

Marcia Davis—Director of Real Estate Development

Lori Rosado—Director of Housing Choice Voucher/Section 8

Vivian L. Watkins—Director of Resident Services/FSS

Coordinator/Editor

We’re on the Web www.hacfm.org

4224 Renaissance Preserve Way Fort Myers, FL 33916 Phone: (239) 344-3220

HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF FORT MYERS