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Evans: I cleaned up Housing Authority
By JEFF TESTERMAN © St. Petersburg Times, published February 21, 2001 TAMPA -- Audley Evans, the former executive at the center of a 125-count bribery and kickback scandal at the Tampa Housing Authority, took the witness stand Tuesday to recount a career distinguished by innovation, compassion and effectiveness. Evans, testifying in the 10th day of his federal trial, said he was handpicked by then-U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp to spread the word about new housing programs across the country, and he recalled commutes and long workweeks spent simultaneously turning around housing authorities in Tampa and New Orleans. "I took over Tampa when it was a "troubled' agency and within my first two years, that "troubled' status was removed," said Evans, 48, a Jamaican immigrant who headed the Tampa Housing Authority from 1988 to 1996. "We actually became "exemplary.' " Evans told jurors of sending Christmas baskets to elderly residents, starting a health outreach program, building a recyling center and establishing a youth center adjacent to public housing that was later renamed the Audley S. Evans Activities Center. Evans said he was particularly proud of the Resident Enterprise Assistance Programs, which used HUD dollars to put public housing residents to work and reflected Kemp's philosophy: "a hand up instead of a handout." But according to HUD officials and federal prosecutors, the resident initiative programs set up by Evans also bred waste and corruption. An April 1998 audit by HUD's inspector general said the cost of Resident Enterprise Assistance Programs at the Housing Authority were excessive. Resident training was sometimes overlooked, and the programs were not operated within HUD rules, the audit said. The 76-page report highlighted other problems, including the deplorable condition of housing and bidding abuses that ultimately became the focus of a federal grand jury investigation. Evans was indicted last April on charges of conspiracy, bribery, wire fraud and money laundering. Dr. Patrick Watson, a Tampa physician, and C. Hayward Chapman, a local developer, also were indicted. Prosecutors say that beginning in 1993, the three men schemed to defraud HUD by "subverting the bidding process" at the Housing Authority. The government says Evans was paid $299,000 in bribes. He is scheduled to testify again today.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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