SEATTLE—June 16, 2003—Responding to requests from residents in low-income high-rise buildings across the city, the Seattle Housing Authority Board of Commissioners adopted a budget for Fiscal Year 2004 that retains some resident managers while trimming the public housing budget significantly.

Instead of eliminating all of the resident managers, SHA will lay off about half (20) of them. The remaining resident managers will be assigned to one or more buildings. Jefferson Terrace, Denny Terrace and Center Park will continue to have full time resident managers, as will the Section 8 New Construction building, Bayview Tower.

All other buildings will share resident managers among three buildings, except for the four buildings on Queen Anne Hill (West Town View, Queen Anne Heights, Center West and Olympic West). These four buildings will share one resident manager.

Assistant resident managers will continue to be responsible for cleaning in the common areas. Supervisory management functions for public housing will be consolidated, reducing the number of Property Managers for this portfolio. In addition, the labor budget for public housing will be reduced by $150,000, which may result in slower response times for non-emergency repairs.

Other changes will include consolidating all resident services functions that were previously in Development within Housing Operations. In total, changes in the Housing Operations department will result in savings of $980,000.

In the new budget, both cost of living adjustments and merit raises for all management staff will be eliminated for this year, and SHA will negotiate for the same with bargaining units. A compensation study will be undertaken to determine the comparability of SHA salaries to the market.

Management staff, including Harry Thomas and those who report directly to him, have volunteered to take leave without pay to provide at least $20,000 of savings to the agency.

SHA is proposing to close its offices and facilities for one unpaid holiday but still must negotiate this with the bargaining units. The specific day, if approved, will be determined with staff input. Estimated savings: $75,000.

Additional staff will be offered the opportunity to take leave without pay, with supervisor approval.

The PorchLight, Finance, and Development departments will experience reductions in staff. The new proposal also anticipates reducing hours at PorchLight and closing the Section 8 waiting list as of June 30, 2003.

The estimate of savings identified as part of the draft budget is summarized in the chart below. A total of 35 positions will be eliminated. An additional $450,000 from Capital funds will be used to balance the Public Housing Operating Budget.