Supervisors press for repairs and resident-led planning at Plaza East after HUD rejects demolition application

Supervisor Dean Preston convened an informational hearing May 6 to address long-running complaints about living conditions at Plaza East, the city’s last 100% public-housing site. Preston said the committee had received petitions from dozens of Plaza East residents and that the item was convened to press for “urgent repairs and improvements” and greater transparency in any long-term planning.

The Housing Authority and McCormick Baron Salazar (MBS), the site’s managing partner and developer, described two parallel efforts: immediate emergency repairs funded through a $2,700,000 loan from the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD), and a longer-term process to identify a financing and redevelopment path that would be led by residents. “We’ve heard from the residents loud and clear, that their living conditions at the site are not acceptable,” said Adi Nagaraj of MBS.

City and agency witnesses outlined the scope and oversight for the repairs. Lydia Ihle, deputy for housing at MOHCD, said the loan carries conditions including unit-by-unit scopes of work, before-and-after photos, and monthly written progress reports. MOHCD and MBS said emergency repairs began this month and that John Stewart Company will take over day-to-day property management on June 1. Luis Barahona, a senior housing inspector at the Department of Building Inspection (DBI), reported about 35 housing complaints over the past 15 years and 19 recent complaints in the last year, with several notices of violation still open.

The committee probed the more contentious question behind the hearing: whether a past Housing Authority submission to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) seeking demolition/disposition (a Section 18 application) represented a commitment to demolish the buildings. Officials said the application was a financing pathway, not a final demolition decision. Housing Authority leadership and MOHCD described a back-and-forth with HUD over whether repair costs meet HUD’s “cost of rehabilitation” (obsolescence) test; HUD informed the authority the application did not meet that test and the application review was discontinued.

Residents and tenant advocates testified at length during public comment. Tenant leaders and long-term residents described ongoing structural and habitability problems — water damage, mold, failing doors and alarms and unreliable maintenance — and demanded resident control of future decisions. Dennis Williams, an organizer at Plaza East, accused the prior management and related oversight of mishandling complaints and alleged corruption, saying bluntly, “What we’re dealing with is corruption.” That allegation was not adjudicated during the hearing; agency staff described steps to improve communication and oversight.

Supervisors pressed agencies and MBS for clearer, independent cost validation and stronger oversight mechanisms. Preston said the city needs to guard against overstated rehab cost estimates being used to justify demolition and urged independent review and transparent reporting. MOHCD and the Housing Authority said engineers and consultants had produced the physical-needs assessments and that city staff have pushed back to HUD where local requirements — for example environmental remediation or seismic work — increase estimated costs.

The committee voted unanimously to continue the item to its June 17 meeting and asked the Housing Authority, MOHCD, MBS and other relevant departments to provide a written engagement plan for residents and a status report on repairs and monitoring before that date.

What happens next: monthly written reports on repairs will be provided to MOHCD and made available to committee staff; John Stewart Company is scheduled to begin management duties June 1; community engagement sessions will precede occupied-unit repairs. The June 17 continuation is intended to review progress and the resident engagement plan.