Public housing residents challenge Mobile Housing Authority executive director

Michael Pierce, Executive Director of the Mobile Housing Authority (MHA), has come under intense criticism from residents of the city’s public housing.

At the end of August, Laurie Hunter, Vice President of the Resident Council at MHA’s Downtown Renaissance property for seniors and persons with disabilities, submitted a formal complaint to regional representatives of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) alleging waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption perpetrated by Pierce and the MHA. Hunter also intends to present the report to the Mobile City Council in person.

Hunter’s report alleges that corruption “has been allowed to flourish” following the MHA Board of Commissioners “abdication of the agency’s governing authority to [Pierce’s] dictatorial control.” 

“Pierce is the single individual at MHA with the power, to at will, subjugate and control residents through threat of eviction. A form of psychological abuse effectively used by Michael Pierce and his management staff to silence any resistance or complaints by residents,” the report reads. 

“Under Pierce’s management MHA has veered far from HUD’s mission which is to provided safe and sanitary affordable rental housing for millions of the country’s vulnerable citizens, which includes women, seniors and individuals with disabilities. Instead of being committed to providing robust resident protections, Pierce has systematically attacked and subverted residents’ rights and benefits on every level,” Hunter continues.

The report goes on to describe how Pierce supposedly lacks the necessary qualifications of an Executive Director. According to Hunter, Pierce has failed to “build trust with residents and lead through professional integrity… demonstrate competency with in-depth knowledge of the regulations, principles and practices of effective public housing administration… apply reasoned, fair, and objective decision making in critical scenarios… [or] demonstrate tact, diplomacy, compassion and professionalism in interactions with residents.”

Before Pierce’s arrival in 2019, HUD had already designated the MHA as a “troubled agency” and placed it under a so-called “Recovery Agreement” designed to to restore “sustainable sound fiscal management and good governance” and “to correct all HUD identified deficiencies.”

The agreement specifically noted that “The Board of Commissioners did not fully perform its oversight role and [do not] understand HUD rules and regulations… evidenced by the poor physical conditions and severe maintenance needs, large amount of deferred maintenance, inadequate policies and procedures, a lack of internal controls, and an unmanageable organizational structure.”

The agreement required that the MHA come into compliance with its specifications by the end of 2022, but Hunter alleges that no such compliance has come to fruition as the “MHA continues to engage in the unscrupulous management practices that led to the necessitation of the Agreement in the first place.”

However, the MHA has not been referred to HUD’s Assistant Secretary of Public Housing for remedial
action as outlined in the agreement. It is unclear why Velma Byron, the Director of Public Housing at HUD’s Birmingham Field Office who is supposedly responsible for taking such action, has not made that referral. Hunter states that it is because of Byron’s negligence in this matter that corruption within the MHA remains unchecked.

In her complaint, Hunter requests a formal grievance hearing in accordance with HUD regulations. Additionally, Hunter calls for Pierce and his management staff to be sanctioned for allegedly harassing her personally due to her advocacy for residents’ rights. Hunter also alleges that Pierce is attempting to illegally replace her Resident Council Board “to avoid accountability and transparency.”

The report then details numerous violations allegedly committed by the MHA under Pierce’s management. Fraudulent inspections, poor development conditions, city code violations, financial malfeasance and fraud, subversion of residents’ right to organize, and elder abuse are among the alleged violations.

Attached to the report are numerous emails which Hunter presents as evidence to support her claims. Among those emails are previous complaints which Hunter herself made to MHA and HUD officials as well as multiple emails authored by Pierce that appear to personally attack Hunter and city officials, including Mayor Sandy Stimpson, for their “smear campaign” against the MHA. 

Hunter told the APR that she is the sole author of the report, but that she works alongside another resident advocate and has the full support of her fellow Resident Council board members. Hunter also said that she is working with the Southern Poverty Law Center to file lawsuits against the MHA over its developments’ “deplorable conditions” and handicap accessibility violations.

Hunter said that she has not yet heard back from the HUD officials with whom she filed the report, but that she intends to follow up with them this week.