While I was researching my video project I found something just a mite interesting in Westcop’s tax returns. It turns out Westcop is the controlling organization of New Rochelle Winthrop HDFC, and gets profits from it. Their tax returns list them as a “related tax exempt organization.” And HDFC’s lists the enitre exectuvie staff of Wesctop as their executive officers, and their headquarters the same Elmsford building. HDFC is the agency in that little building off North and Winthrop supposedly run by Mr. Horton. It is a subsidiary of the New Rochelle Housing Authority.
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2011/132/547/2011-132547122-08603df1-9.pdf
(look under tax related organizations, and revenue)
http://pdfs.citizenaudit.org/2013_04_EO/13-3774839_990_201207.pdf
(Weirdly enough their maintenance company is apparently run by Wesctop too)
It controls Heritge homes, and controlled the defucnt Hartley houses known for their lack of repaiers and crime. That is 240 units at least according to Hartley Houses statistics (the housing authority hasn’t updated their website to include Heritage homes despite them now outnumbering the old Hartley Houses.) So far we only have paper proof for Heritage Homes (shown in the next paragraph) But I am willing to bet that it manages other NRHA buildings as well, and even if not with several members of the board connected to either HDFC or Westcop (Mr. Dawkins, Mr. Horton at the very least) they are going to have some influence over the housing authority’s programs.
The Housing Authority according to their website supervises 640 units. Someone told me that section eight in New Rochelle has nothing to do with NRHA. It may be true that not all section eight vouchers in New Rochelle derive from the housing authority….But there is a section for section eight applications on their website, and according to this site the housing authority also has 500-1100 section eight vouchers. So that is anywhere from about 1000-2000 units they have influence over at the very least.
http://nrmha.org/section8english.pdf
http://affordablehousingonline.com/housing-authority/New-York/New-Rochelle-Housing-Authority/NY088/
Specifically, it was in charge of Hartley Houses the old run down projects that caused a great deal of issues for many poor people. Instead of improving them the city and apparently Westcop chose to tear them down. The weird thing is that the rebuilt units Heritage Homes are no longer public housing, but just cheaply priced units, and it is estimated that up to 93 people could be displaced (see linked newspaper article) Even wierder than that they used HUD money to demolish affordable housing units to turn them into non-affordable units, how did they get approval for that?
http://noambramson.org/publicdocs/2010/12/Hartley-Description.pdf
Now some of you might say, so what that Westcop owns it, just because you don’t think they do a good job doesn’t mean that there is corruption there. Reverend Dawkins the local head of Wesctop was recently named as treasurer of the NRHA by the city. As head of New Rochelle Cap and a as a member of Westcop he also is part of an organization receiving money from the housing authority. Of course if he recuses himself on every vote involving Heritage Homes at the very least he is in the clear, but how many of you think that that is super likely?
Even weirder is this: Mr. Mosley the director of Oasis supported the tearing down of the Hartley house projects and the building of their replacement heritage homes. Doesn’t sound so weird, except that he was head of the Hartley house tenants association at the time. HDFC gets a share of the profits from the new housing. If it is run by Wesctop he was not only morally reprehensible but possibly legally as well. (works for Westcop, supporting his employers tearing down the projects as head of a tenants association….)
http://thehoodup.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=9135#.VCn8O4HIa7Y
None of Wesctop is doing in this city, or what New Rochelle’s public officials are letting it do makes any sense. And worst of all no one seems to want to do anything about it. Shall we start?
I would like to add that apparently NRHA mismanaged 200,000 in funds according to the federal government in 2010….
http://www.hud.gov/offices/oig/reports/files/ig1021011.pdf
Pretty Disturbing?