HUD inspector is contracted to run VHA

Published 11:44 am Friday, December 9, 2011

The Vicksburg Housing Authority’s new executive director wants to use his position to help tenants move out of subsidized housing and become more productive citizens.

“I want to do something to motivate people, especially the younger people, to become more productive and get off assistance,” Bennett Washington said. “In some cases, you have three to four generations living in the same place. I want to inspire them to do better.”

The VHA commission hired Washington, 44, at a Wednesday meeting that, despite Mississippi public meetings statutes, was not announced beforehand.

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Washington replaces Dannie Walker, who left in September to take a similar position with the Ozark, Ala., Housing Authority. Washington starts Monday. His salary will be $68,500, $19,500 less than the $88,000 a year Walker received.

“It’s long overdue, and we’re glad to have somebody on board to carry out the day-to-day business of the authority,” VHA vice chairman Charles Wright said. “We think we’ve got a good man and a good administrator.”

A Jackson native, Washington lives in Clinton and has a bachelor’s in business administration from the University of Southern Mississippi. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have three children: daughters Demi, 12, and Erin, 11, and a son, Kyle, 18, a freshman at USM.

Before accepting the VHA position, Washington was a contract inspector for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, inspecting Section 8 and public housing complexes in Mississippi. He made several inspections at VHA.

He also served as administrator/coordinator for the Mississippi office of the Jefferson County, Ala., Housing Authority, which had the Section 8 housing contract for the state. He oversaw Section 8 subsidies, management company reviews and building inspections.

He has a background in banking and helped the Jackson Metro Housing Partnership get funding for housing rehab while he was senior loan officer at First American Bank of Jackson.

“There is a need for subsidized housing, but there are means and programs to help people move up and improve,” Washington said. “I grew up near Section 8 complexes, and a lot of my friends lived in Section 8. Many of them were my idols because they were good citizens and students. They were able to get up and move on. I want younger people to realize that there is another way and there are programs to help. They don’t have to be on assistance.”

Walker had been VHA director for two years and lived in a house in the Rolling Acres housing complex before resigning in late August.

He left the VHA in early September. Commissioners said Washington will not be required to live in a housing complex.

Walker was hired in July 2009, replacing Jim Stirgus Sr., who was fired by the board in the midst of a turbulent six-month period that followed the arrest of housing authority maintenance superintendent Charles Jones Jr. for possession of cocaine in December 2008.