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New public housing goes up in DeLand

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Laurel Villas
102 Laurel Villas Cir
Deland, FL 32724
(386) 734-1060

New public housing goes up in DeLand

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By Pat Andrews
BEACON STAFF WRITER
posted Apr 21, 2011 - 9:13:20am
The future of funding to help people with housing may be uncertain, but there’s no shortage of the need for help.

The DeLand Housing Authority can’t tell you exactly how many people in the DeLand area

need help. They aren’t taking applications right now, even to get on a waiting list. The existing waiting lists are already long.

The Housing Authority manages money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide both public housing, and Section 8 rental assistance. Section 8 is also called “the Housing Choice Vouchers Program.”

Right now, there’s no public housing in DeLand to manage. The city’s Section 8 program, currently helping people pay rent on 749 homes, is tapped out. The Section 8 waiting list is closed.

DeLand’s public-housing complex, the aging 200-unit Oakland Terrace, was torn down in 2007. Construction of a new 210-unit complex called Laurel Villas began last fall on property at East Euclid and South Amelia avenues.
If all goes well, the new complex will be complete at the end of the year, Housing Authority Executive Director Linda McDonnell said.

As the buildings take shape, excitement is building among Housing Authority board members.

“This is such a fresh start for the people,” board member Ruth Stanley said at the Housing Authority’s April 5 meeting.

The other board members agreed. The new two- and three-bedroom townhomes will give tenants a new start.

Each apartment will come equipped with a refrigerator, range and dishwasher. It will have its own driveway and garage, and laundry hookups. Without a parking lot and laundry rooms, there will be fewer places for drug deals and other problems that typically plague public housing, McDonnell said.

The old Oakland Terrace complex had become rife with crime, she told The Beacon. Toward the end, Housing Authority employees even had to have police escorts when they went to work in offices on the complex.

Tenants will still have to buy their own washers and dryers, as they did at Oakland Terrace. McDonnell noted Habitat for Humanity and other places sell used laundry machines, and rental centers offer them.

In the long run, it’s cheaper than feeding coin-operated washers and dryers, McDonnell said.

When it’s complete, Laurel Villas will feature a community room, a clubroom, units for active seniors, and Housing Authority offices at the corner of Garfield and Voorhis avenues.

The developer/builder, Picerne, will manage the complex for the Housing Authority, and is contributing the garage doors for the units, McDonnell said. Picerne, a national company that also builds military housing through another division, has a regional office in Altamonte Springs.

Who will live in Laurel Villas?

HUD rules limit public housing to low-income families and individuals.

In DeLand, that generally means a very low income — no more than 30 percent of the median income of $56,000. That works out to a maximum of $16,800 for a family of four, based on 2010 figures.

Rent at Laurel Villas will be based on 30 percent of the family’s anticipated gross income, less deductions. Deductions include $400 a year for each child under the age of 18, and $400 for an elderly person, or a person with disabilities.

A utility allowance is factored into the equation. The tenant is responsible for paying the utility bills.

Applicants must be U.S. citizens or have immigration status that makes them eligible for public housing.

The Housing Authority will check references, including criminal records. A lease is required.

The total projected cost for construction of Laurel Villas is $21.3 million, including a $1.53 million developer’s fee and a $825,295 co-development fee that will be paid to the DeLand Housing Authority.

HUD has issued the DeLand Housing Authority around $365,000 a year in replacement-housing funds for the past three years, to help build replacements for the demolished units at Oakland Terrace. Other public sources, including $10.9 million in tax-credit equity and a small amount from Volusia County, make up the $21.3 million budget for Laurel Villas.

The Housing Authority can get the replacement funds for up to 10 years, as long as they remain eligible and Congress provides the money.

What about Section 8 vouchers?

As noted, the DeLand Housing Authority’s waiting list for Section 8 vouchers is closed.

Section 8 helps people get housing in the private market. Participants can find their own housing, including single-family homes, as long as the housing meets Section 8 requirements for decent, safe and sanitary housing. The landlord must agree to program requirements, and must sign a contract.

The DeLand Housing Authority receives money from HUD to issue a voucher to help pay the rent for a participating family. The family pays the difference between the actual rent and the amount of the voucher.

The amount of the voucher is determined by family size, family income, assets and other information.

To qualify, HUD guidelines say the family income may not exceed 50 percent of the median income for the county or metropolitan area.

But, by law, each Public Housing Authority must provide 75 percent of its vouchers to applicants whose incomes do not exceed 30 percent of the median income. In Volusia County, that’s $16,800 for a family of four.

McDonnell described the demand for Section 8 vouchers as “unbelievable.”

“People are calling and crying,” she said.

But, she said, the Housing Authority doesn’t have funding for any additional vouchers. Applications are not being accepted. When they are accepted again, eligible families will be put on a waiting list.

Funding won’t be increased anytime soon.

Orlando Field Office Director Buz Ausley said the 2010 Section 8 operating budget was funded at 103 percent. In 2009, it was funded at 88.42 percent.

A “complicated benchmarking process” based on the number and cost of vouchers issued during a prior period is used to figure funding levels, he said.

According to a February HUD news release, HUD will simplify and clarify Section 8’s rent-setting provisions in the coming year. HUD also plans to include $200 million in the new budget for a pilot program converting up to 255,000 public-housing units to long-term rental-assistance contracts. This will give housing authorities capital to make repairs.

What will be the effect on local housing authorities?

“Until HUD has an approved budget there is no way to know how much will be available for each program. The impact will be different for each housing authority,” Ausley wrote in an e-mail.

In the July 27 request for the board’s approval of the annual budget, McDonnell said, “HUD has been ‘playing’ with Section 8 funding partially due to the use of some of their funding for the cost of the War, and no one knows where HUD will be going next year, as there are so many people in Congress who want part of HUD’s budget.”

Ausley said, “HUD funding of projects is subject to appropriation (the President’s budget) and HUD’s budget. Once the funds have been appropriated to the housing authorities, it does not decrease.”

For the fiscal year ending June 30, the DeLand Housing Authority’s operating budget for Section 8 is $640,100.

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Reader Comments

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Joan | posted May 5, 2011 - 6:38:50am

Thanks alot - your answer sovled all my problems after several days struggling

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Pcan007 | posted Apr 30, 2011 - 9:38:33pm

I pay ALL my bills, save my money and the reason I own my own home is because I don't have top of the line appliances and can't afford GRANITE. Hope about this, since there is such a long waiting list, lets limit the lease to 1 year per verified social security #, oh, yeah, lets also say that in order to sign a lease, you have to have a job or show record of a legitimate job search. The elderly and disabled would get a pass on that requirement. Lets give a hand up, not a hand out. No incentive to improve if we keep giving them everything for free or discounted.

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Easier said than done... | posted Apr 25, 2011 - 2:23:34pm

@ "soon to be.." In your comment to me-

"98% of these places DO offer daycare"

I would like to know if those Daycares offered are run by the residents, (or at least have them involved in a large way)? My point is, in order for these public housings to be better than what they have been allowded to become, it is necessary to have the residents REQUIRED to participate and be accountable for getting their needs met. It would be extremely helpful, however, getting a "landlord" willing to be on board with the program is another issue.

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[link widoczny dla zalogowanych] | posted Apr 24, 2011 - 8:10:31am

TO "Soon to be ex resident"

I have two families (black) on my block that are Sec.8 and are great people. I'm white and at first had a problem with the (IDEA) of having poor blacks on my block.... I'm a changed man, the kids are nice and very good, all the Dads are at home. I'm sometimes not the best at yard upkeep, but their homes are always clean and maintained. At a block party one of the dads told me that living in Sec. 8 (apts) housing is not a place to raise children. !!!!! NOW THAT'S A FATHER!

SOON TO BE EX RESIDENT; I glad you are leaving, you wood not be a good neighbor.

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Soon to be ex resident | posted Apr 23, 2011 - 1:33:10pm

Tim, if you know with all certainty that the works are illegals I urge you to step above all the heads of this one horse town and contact the INS. Just google it, and you'll find many web pages that will instruct you how to have them investigated. It breaks my heart to see legal citizens in need of work but losing out to illegals who take take take and never put in.

I also wanted to add how the majority of comments here disgust me. Just because people don't make as much money as you - (which can't be much in the first place, because who in their right mind who had any decent wages would want to live in Deland; aka the giant ghetto is beyond my grasp of reasoning.) Most of these people make at least 20k a year but cannot exceed 30k.

How do I know? I recently went appartment hunting and found out that 90% of appartments in Deland are subsidized or section 8 only with the exception of maybe three other places which are more expensive than these so called projects, but are much more slum like.

These new appartments they're getting are very spacious with all the bells and whistles (granite top counters, huge closets, etc..)

You have to understand that places for these people to live have to exist, otherwise you'll find a ton of families on the streets. Deland is already a giant ghetto, so what does another one going up really do to the area other than keep less people off the streets, which in my eyes would be a good thing.

As far as the comment about having these places offer daycare instead of club houses- I'd like to inform you that yes, 98% of these places DO offer daycare, on top of being really nice!

It kills me that my husband and I make too much to live in these nicer appartments and yet have to pay a good amt. more for a place that is much older, and smaller. However, we were able to find non section 8 appartments outside of Deland which are pretty nice.

My argument is that they're needed, but they shouldn't have it so nice. Do these people need granite counter tops, and top of the line appliances? NO. I also think that on top of the background checks that they do on occasion require, I also think these places should require drug testing.

I also feel that Deland should re evaluate the situation...If they have any hopes of keeping decent people making good wages, then they had better make so nicer comparable appartments which are NOT section 8.

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JNJ | posted Apr 23, 2011 - 8:07:47am

I own some housing in a horrible area in Deltona unfortunately, and have Section 8 renters in it. I can assure you, Section 8 means more crime...robbery and drug dealing.

Also, the Section 8'ers can't afford their rent without governmnet welfare but can afford big screen TV's, cable, alarms systems, cars, cell phones and other luxuries. It disgusts me.

By and large, they are uneducated and have children with no fathers.

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PConway | posted Apr 22, 2011 - 11:10:29pm

Hey EasierSaidThanDone...I know...

Absolutely right but it will never happen.

Besides Obama needs all the help he can get in 2012 and here is a start.........................................................

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EasierSaidThanDone...I know... | posted Apr 22, 2011 - 10:55:32pm

In stead of "a community room" & "a clubroom" (which could be a potential drug dealer breeding ground) How about a child care center that must be operated by residents, on a rotating basis, directed by a certified child care specialist (paid by the residents who use the center, a small fee paid by each.) It would keep the "latch key kids" from running around unsupervised. The residents should also have to pitch in to maintain the grounds and especially their area.(even the "disabled", and teens, there's always something to do for everyone) The Landlord should be required to see to it that the property is being kept up and that the residents are doing their share, all documented. (no more slumlords just making section 8 money) Residents with children should be required to agree to a contract, have NO more babies or find another place to live.(if you can afford to keep havin' babies you must be able to afford to a better place to live) There should be a limit of children per household, as a code issue for safety.

YES, regular drug testing! Money well spent to keep the residents accountable. Just seems maybe a little pride and dignity could actually show up if the section 8 people were expected and required to do something in return. (just curious...what would it take to get this going? What is stopping it?)

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The Southern | posted Apr 22, 2011 - 6:31:45pm

Can White people move in there?

I'm losing my home, lost my job last year, have two great loving kids and a wife who holds us all together. And I think they may close this library (DeLand) so no more Internet.....

They can drug test us or whatever they need to do.. I need a place to live thats clean and safe for my kids to play..

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Ames Wolff | posted Apr 22, 2011 - 10:49:10am

@misanthrope...good comment and I agree. This development should have been named "Entitlement Estates".

oneofthesedays | posted Apr 22, 2011 - 8:33:03am

Oh its not fair, boo hoo, the poor get eeverything haded to them while everybody else has to work and gets nothing oh boo hoo.

I challenge any one on this bored with the exception of kathy to live a month like the people who live in theses areas live. You wouldnt make it. Most are elderly, and while you cry stereotypical rants about "sterilize" and "drug test", Yea how much would that cost. While I dont like govt assistance any more than the next I dont need it. If I did I probably would welcome any and all. Get over yourselves.

Sheandi | posted Apr 22, 2011 - 7:26:06am

Okay, this is really ticking me off.

Do they realize where they are building this new place?? Do they realize what was there before? Do they realize what is across the street? That is a 'GATED' Community and they have just as much crime there as 'The Projects' had.

If someone with 4 kids is only making 16,000 a year, then the money should be spent on sterelizing the parents not paying for them to have a place to 'lay down' and make more.

You have those of us that go out everyday and work our behinds off to make it, and you have those that know the state will pay their way through life. And do you think there is anyone out there to help the people that want to help themselves?? HECK NO!!!!

And they think that the way these places are going to be set up will cut back on drug deals and other crime.I think they need to lay of the drugs themselves. They will just go inside and do it in front of the children. They are already teaching them how to 'suck the system'. Why not show them how to outsmart the police too???

Misanthrope | posted Apr 22, 2011 - 7:23:58am

Public housing is a joke, it will just increase crime and decrease home value. These people who qualify for this need to work for what they get. If they want room and board, perhaps they should have to manage the public housing facility. They can be janitors, cut the grass, etc. Or they should be made to volunteer their time at the Boy's and Girl's club or at a Soup Kitchen at least 20 hours a week. Also be drug tested on a regular basis. Why is the government so afraid of imposing such strict rules and regulations? I can't go to work high or I get booted, this should be no exception.

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WHAT A JOKE | posted Apr 22, 2011 - 7:17:02am

I just got sick reading about this. I have lived here all of my life and I remember when we feared even traveling near the old projects that were at the same location. I grew up as a poor kid, as well did my parents. None in my family ever received any government assistance. We all have worked two and sometimes three jobs at a time when needed and we put ourselves through school. Hard work got us to where we are now and hard work and not handouts would do the same for the people these homes are being built for. It is not fair or just to take from from my family in order to give to others who have made poor life choices and who refuse to work hard the same way we have. This non-sense will never end. Keep making it easy for them with handouts and they will keep coming for handouts and they will keep doing nothing to improve themselves.

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tim | posted Apr 22, 2011 - 6:59:15am

I tried to get hired on as a mason but mcneil $ white would only hire a mexican crew because the prices were so low. When I first went over to hire on the contractor took my name and played it off like they were going to hire local people. But it was all a scam. I know several people, masons and labors, black and white,that "signed up" but never got hired, because they were not mexican. mcneil and white and the general contractor should be ashamed hiring these illegals. It is people likr this that aid to the problem. I have worked with some of these illegals on another project, and when I tried to get hired they laughed and told me" no gringos here HAHA" These contractors should be run out of FL. and have there license revoked. They know there illegal. They have one guy with papers and he gets the check than divies up the money.Thanks for helping the illegals to build habitat for the lazy.First they build these places they they will move in and ruin Deland. Thanks alot mcneil & white.

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Kudatz | posted Apr 22, 2011 - 6:49:37am

Hey, I got a great idea. If these people need govt money to help them, they need to agree to two things. First, no more kids. Agree to being sterilized so we don't need to support more losers. Second, a drug testing program. If you test positive, you get the boot.--Just another one of my unpolitically correct ideas dealing with the losers of this town!

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Deland | posted Apr 21, 2011 - 11:16:13pm

Big mistake. Build this down in Orlando! We don't need more crime here.

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Kathy | posted Apr 21, 2011 - 8:23:50pm

I know many masons and laborers who could not get hired on this site, because they only spoke english and not spanish. We have given this country away.

I have worked my butt off all my life, nobody ever gave me a dime. When you don't have to work for what you have, you don't appreciate anything. How about give the working man free medical insurance!!

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Mr. 2Cents | posted Apr 21, 2011 - 5:12:05pm

At least we'll know where most of the trash is in DeLand and hope the police will make a better attempt at picking it up before it blows around town.

Not to mention a waste of taxpayer money. How can homes, motels, condos and such last 50 years and longer but anything that is public housing or Section 8 barely lasts 20 years? Not a good investment DeLand!

Just stack up some old shipping cargo boxes with one door, one window, one electrical outlet, one hotplate and one padlock. Build a community bath for everyone to use. When they destroy their home, just get a forklift to put it on a flatbed and hall to a scrapyard and replace with another box. At about $1,000 for a used box that's a good investment.

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BIG mistake Deland!!! | posted Apr 21, 2011 - 2:29:48pm

These "apartment's" are going to do one thing, make the crime rate go "UP"!!!

Good job "DeLand Housing Authority", you just made a horrible decision here.

These apartments are nothing more than somewhere else for crime to flourish!!!

40 acres and a mule | posted Apr 21, 2011 - 1:23:20pm

They might be nice now, but just take a drive to Daytona and look whats happened there. These people don't know how to take care of anything and why should they?
The house next to me was built 5 years ago and was a nice home, but section 8 renters have come and gone and absolutely destroyed the house. The last so called family played music all hours of the night and countless cars coming in and out. I say no more handouts, I feel bad for the children brought into this mess, but no more freebies.

Theone Wilkenson | posted Apr 21, 2011 - 10:40:12am
"Applicants must be U.S. citizens or have immigration status that makes them eligible for public housing."
And just was is the immigration status that makes them eligible? and who is checking?

joe | posted Apr 21, 2011 - 10:07:55am

"Each apartment will come equipped with a refrigerator, range and dishwasher. It will have its own driveway and garage, and laundry hookups.
Without a parking lot and laundry rooms, there will be fewer places for drug deals and other problems that typically plague public housing, McDonnell said. "

Yeah, right.

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Amenities
Community Amenities
BBQ/Picnic AreaBusiness CenterClubhouseFitness CenterHigh Speed InternetLaundry FacilitiesMedia RoomPackage ReceivingPlaygroundPrivate GaragesPublic TransportationSpanish Speaking StaffSpectacular LandscapeApartment Amenities
Air ConditioningCable ReadyCarpetingCeiling FanDishwasherDisposalEnergy Star AppliancesMini BlindsW/D HookupWheelchair Access on Selected Units Floor Plan Bed Bath SQ.FT. Rent Deposit ..
2 Bed 2.5 Bath22.5 1160-1178 $657 .
3 Bed 2.5 Bath32.5 1373 $744

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Police: Woman beaten unconscious by carjacker

DeLand police say woman was attacked while sitting in her car

Published On: Nov 07 2012 09:16:54 AM EST Updated On: Nov 07 2012 08:47:00 PM EST

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Police: Woman beaten unconscious by carjacker
DeLAND, Fla. -
DeLand police say a woman was beaten unconscious by a man who then fled in her vehicle.

According to a police report, the 31-year-old woman dropped off a friend Monday evening at the Laurel Villa Apartments on Euclid Avenue.

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Police said the woman was waiting for a phone call in her car when a man, whom she didn't see, punched her in the face a couple of times.

"I hear a lady crying and screaming help or something and there's some guys across the street," the caller told dispatchers in the 911 calls released on Wednesday. "She was yelling leave me alone and she's yelling and screaming and a gentlemen just walked out of the house again. I think he's waiting for the other guy to come back."

The woman said she later woke up lying in the grass and her car was gone, according to police.

The caller told dispatchers the men came back to harass the woman.

"And the guy is coming back to the house messing with her," the caller said. "Unbelievable."

The woman's car was found nearby a short time later, but her keys, purse and cellphone were missing, police said.

A description of the assailant has not been released.
Comments

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Trusty> 12nattys•20 hours ago−

Scandinavians.

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PotatoHead•a day ago

I'm going out on a limb here and saying it was a darkie.....

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whattime•17 hours ago

Let me help the yellow journalists. The worthless convict looks like Obama's son in a Hoodie caring Skittles and Purple Drank. He communicates using an Obama phone, collects food stamps and has 4 little convicts in training from 4 Baby Momma Ho-es, each on welfare in public housing. He can be found drinking the malt 40s on the corner selling drugs.

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imagooddriver•a day ago

She was waiting in her car for a phone call??? That just doesn't make sense. Bad news. Bad area. What DO you think was going.....c'mon now.

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OMiGosh> imagooddriver•19 hours ago

I'm thinking her pimp took her car, her keys and her purse because he found her "working" on the side ... or maybe her boyfriend found out she has a pimp or ???

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zeelphaggin•13 hours ago

A description of the assailant has not been released... yep, we can jus' guess.

MelissaD•17 hours ago

Wow, did it make him feel like more of a man punching a woman in the face??? I hope he is caught and they take a shovel right to his face!

Mindblown81> MelissaD•2 hours ago−

I agree! When I wanna feel like a man, I push a woman down the stairs, towards the laundry room.......

whomydaddy•18 hours ago

That's right, we bad!
Capt_Snarky•11 hours ago

Laurel Villa Apartments - public housing, you can fill in the blanks about these folks.

Nacho Daddy•19 hours ago

Why didn't she call the police, that's what they instruct us to do when being beaten to death.

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