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The city is looking into complaints about its largest builder of affordable homes.
By LEONORA LaPETER
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 16, 2002
ST. PETERSBURG -- The city has suspended its relationship with its largest builder of affordable homes because of complaints of poor construction and jacked-up prices of several homes in low-income neighborhoods.
Several home buyers told city officials they were asked to sign addenda outside their original agreements with General Home Development Corp., a Pasco County developer, that added thousands of dollars to their loans.
Others complained they didn't receive what they asked for or the work was substandard. One couple asked for a home that was handicapped accessible, but they do not believe they got a home that was safe for their children, who are paralyzed from the waist down.
"I'm very angry because if they couldn't do the job, they should have at least been honest with us," said Robert Gordon Sr., 42, a city equipment maintenance operator with five children, including two who were born with spina bifida. "I want what I asked for: a wheelchair-accessible house for my kids. That's what I paid for."
The complaints have prompted the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to investigate seven complaints against GHD to determine whether there are violations of fair housing and lending laws. The city, which offered the home buyers low-cost loans or down payment and closing cost assistance, is also investigating.
Thomas E. Smith, president of General Home Development Corp., said he would appeal the suspension and questioned why the city took "unwarranted action against GHD without even hearing the true facts."
Smith, who started the Dade City company 30 years ago, said it has a record of providing affordable housing to more than 3,000 low-income families.
He said the city's Working to Improve our Neighborhoods program, known as WIN, is inefficient and unable to process loans in a timely manner, resulting in customers who are already frustrated once they begin dealing with the builder. He also said the complaints came from a few customers.
"This is from two customers who got mad because they didn't get a bunch of freebies," Smith said.
The Gordons, however, said the ramps in their home are too short and steep for their two children, ages 5 and 6, to safely go down in wheelchairs. They don't have small curbs to keep the wheelchairs from running off the edge and toppling on the concrete.
"It's not safe," said Valorie Gordon, 42, an outreach health promoter at All Children's Hospital.
The Gordons say the company did not treat them with respect once they signed documents to build the $92,000 home on 13th Street S. They say no one returned their phone calls and that the home is outfitted with cheap sinks, cabinets and other accessories.
The home was supposed to be done in early December, but the Gordons said they had to move into a motel room because it wasn't finished.
Two months later, the Gordons said the room began to "close in" on them and their five children. So they called a television station, and it was only after a story aired about them that they got into their home a week ago.
Other complaints followed. Lloyd Wright, 49, said General Home Development added $11,000 to the cost of his $106,000 home on Palanza Drive S, requiring him to get a third mortgage. The city held his second mortgage.
He said he was told the $11,000 was for tree removal, landscaping and driveway installation. Wright said that when he bought the home, he thought those items were included. Wright also said the final home doesn't look like the model he thought he was going to get, and he didn't know the home was going to have stucco only on the front side.
Wright, a father of three who was buying his first home, said he was misled and manipulated.
Tom de Yampert, director of the city's WIN program that provides loans to low-income home buyers, said General Home Development is not the only company building affordable homes with city loans in the city. But it is the largest. The company has built at least 60 affordable homes with $2.5-million in city loans since 1996.
Home buyers typically find General Home Development at several model homes the company has built on Fifth Avenue S in Childs Park. In some cases, the city will front loan money to the Pasco builder to construct the home, then get reimbursed once the buyer purchases the home. In other cases, the city provides low-income home buyers with low-interest loans for closing costs and down payment assistance.
Pinellas and Pasco housing officials said they had no complaints against the builder. The company's state license is also clear of complaints since 1999, the last year for which information was available.
"This is a huge step for us, and this was nothing that was done lightly," de Yampert said. "In a defensive role for GHD, they came to the city four or five years ago when no other home builder was dealing with the city and they gambled on the city, and that's a big thing. Now other builders are coming in and following in their footsteps. But when you have that many complaints from citizens, you need to take review action."