City attorney tells Florence City Council HUD must approve Housing Authority disposition; attorney says current residents will not be displaced

Florence City Council members heard a legal briefing that Resolution 2025-24 concerns the Florence Housing Authority’s planned disposition of properties and that the plan must be approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development before it can move forward.

The city attorney, Ron, told the council that “HUD, which is the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, has a process for housing authorities…when it comes to disposition of properties,” and that an “itemized, detailed plan must be submitted to HUD when any impact for existing residents is involved.” He told councilors the process is multi-step and subject to HUD review and approval.

Why this matters: disposition—selling or otherwise removing properties from public-housing inventory—is a common tool housing authorities use to replace older, hard-to-maintain units with newer housing while remaining within HUD-set limits on the number of public units. Council members asked whether constituents would be at risk of displacement; the attorney responded that the proposal from the Florence Housing Authority would not displace current residents.

Details from the briefing: the attorney said HUD distinguishes between public housing units (owned by a housing authority) and voucher units (privately owned units where tenants use housing choice vouchers). “HUD is not allowing public housing authorities to increase that number or that maximum number of public housing units,” he said, and disposition is one way authorities can use proceeds from older sites to create newer, more energy-efficient units while remaining within HUD caps. He added: “No 1 will be displaced by the proposal that has been set forth by the Housing Authority of Florence.”

Council members were told the city’s role is limited. The attorney described local participation as primarily through public input sessions: the housing authority prepares and submits a plan to HUD, HUD reviews that plan and either approves it or requests additional information, and the housing authority must follow HUD’s directions to proceed. As the attorney summarized: “The carrying out of the activity itself is entirely in the hands of the housing authority, and it’s subject to HUD’s approval.”

Councilmember (unnamed) asked for clarification about the cap on the number of public units and how disposition helps create newer housing stock. The attorney reiterated that disposition permits authorities to “offload some of the older, harder to maintain sites, allowing them to use those proceeds, and stay within those caps that HUD has set for them, but to also provide better housing stock in the process.”

The attorney also told members that current residents “will be provided for, will be communicated with. There won’t be any last minute surprises for anyone in this process.”

Action taken: the council returned from executive session and proceeded with a voice vote related to the item; the meeting record shows the ayes prevailed (voice vote; tally not specified). The Florence Housing Authority must submit the detailed disposition plan to HUD for review and approval before any changes move forward.

The council did not adopt detailed plan language at the meeting; the briefing described the procedural steps and protections that HUD requires and emphasized that HUD approval is required before implementation.