JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The CEO of Jacksonville Housing Authority says he will not resign amid multiple probes into the agency by the city's office of inspector general.
Members of JHA's board of commissioners say they learned about the latest investigation, which has to do with the management of a debit card program, from the news. They called for an emergency meeting on Monday morning.
Commissioners are now pushing for policy changes, saying it's "shocking" and they're extremely disappointed to learn about the investigation from the news and not their own team.
Jacksonville Housing Authority manages public housing and, as our news partners at the Florida Times-Union confirm, the inspector general's newest investigation is over how JHA is managing money put on debit cards for tenants to use to pay utility bills.
The report on this investigation is not publicly available yet and because of that, the board took no action on it during the emergency meeting on Monday. Commissioners wanted to clarify the difference between an "inquiry" and an "investigation" by the OIG. Representatives from the Office of General Counsel called the current issue an "investigation" in the meeting.
JHA President and CEO Dwayne Alexander pushed back, saying it's a "management inquiry," not an investigation, by the OIG. He also explained to the board a previous inquiry by the OIG had to do with a felon who was accidentally allowed into public housing during the pandemic.
While there was no mention in the meeting of Alexander resigning, a lawyer representing him reportedly wrote in a letter that "board leadership" asked Alexander to resign. Alexander says he will remain on the job and references his earlier evaluation when answering a question from reporters.
"We have seven board of directors," Alexander began. "They did my evaluation. My evaluation was a 4.5 out of five. So that's exceptional."
JHA has 10 days from Thursday to respond to the OIG's report. The board is planning to meet later this week but did not set an exact date or time.
A city of Jacksonville spokesperson tells First Coast News because the inspector general report is not finalized and published, the city cannot comment.
Affordable housing continues to be a big issue in Jacksonville and across the country. Mayor Donna Deegan determined, following a series of meetings with the public this year, that the majority of millions of dollars set aside to be distributed after the meetings should go toward housing programs.
According to the housing authority, you can expect to wait up to five years from when you apply to when you can get into most public housing units in Jacksonville.