Tampa, Florida -- New information from the 10 News Investigators as the head of a department that we investigated has left the city of Tampa.
It's a department that helps provide affordable housing to those who need it most. Following our story, the city is now in the process of correcting some of the problems we uncovered.
Clearly the Tampa Housing and Community Development Department had major problems and the former manager, Sharon West, didn't seem to have a handle on them.
Original Story: Problems with Tampa Affordable Housing program
For example, when we went to West with questions about one of the projects the city was working on at 1914 East Osborne, we asked if she had received approval from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). West told us, "This is not a HUD project."
However, an internal memo from West's department said, "No additional funds should be invested in the home, due to repercussions from HUD."
We told her it was her department's own memo, and West replied she hadn't seen it, because she had just returned from vacation. But West wasn't on vacation for the entire time the home was being renovated.
According to her own department memos, inspections of the property showed most of the work failed or was not complete, costing taxpayers almost $80,000. We found scores more of written complaints with homeowners upset with the program.
When we asked if taxpayers should be happy with the program, West told us, "I don't think anyone is happy with what has happened."
That was in October, and here it is, almost 2012 and the home which got approval for a tax payer-funded renovation in 2007 is another black eye for the Tampa Housing and Community Development Department. It is no closer to completion than it was when we first began our investigation into the agency.
Tom Snelling, the acting manager of the department that supervises Housing and Community Development, says, "This in some ways, as you pointed out, got out of hand a little bit."
Snelling is personally overseeing the project. Sharon West opted for early retirement 10 days after our story.
Snelling says no further construction has been done on the house, because the city is re-evaluating everything.
He says, "We want to make sure we don't get halfway down the road and say, 'We just wasted some money there. Let's go back, because it's only government money. We're going to keep spending it.'" Snelling adds "We're not going to do that."
You've got to give Snelling and the city credit, as they acknowledge there are problems and are working on correcting it... not only on the Osborne home, but also on another home where the owner told us a six-month project turned into five years, and it is still not right.
Snelling says the feds and the state also took notice. He says the day after our first story, HUD and a state agency called the city to find out how it was spending public money it received from them.