Bradenton Housing Authority director ignores complaints about how he treats residents

The Bradenton Housing Authority has admitted to some procedural failings in its operations but has denied more severe findings on how it treats tenants.

During a two-year review of the housing authority, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found multiple instances of the agency failing to meet federal guidelines, or in some cases following its own policies. Most notable, investigators with HUD’s Miami office confirmed several complaints about abusive behavior by BHA Executive Director Ellis Mitchell Jr. and other BHA staff members reported by the Bradenton Herald in 2018.

HUD in November reported that, “Additionally, the (Miami Field Office) receives an inordinate amount of complaints from (residents). The majority of complaints revolve around the tone of communications received from the administrative staff which is almost always perceived as staff being combative and abusive.”

HUD stated that staff “use veiled threats of losing their housing assistance if they speak out regarding their rights as assisted participants.”

Mitchell declined to be interviewed but in his 72-page response to HUD, these allegations are not addressed.

Resident Nairobys Toledo spoke to the Bradenton Herald in 2018 about Mitchell’s abusive behavior toward both residents and staff members. She said it’s only gotten worse since she first spoke out.

“He went insane and attacks me for every little thing,” Toledo said in a recent interview. “If there are dishes in the sink, I have to go through a mentoring class. I can’t put pictures on the wall and I get written up for everything, including toys outside.”

Toledo, a mother of five, said she came down with COVID-19 in September and couldn’t work for a few weeks. She said she has shown proof to the BHA and followed all of their protocols when falling behind on rent, but is getting evicted anyway. She went in on Nov. 22 to try and pay what she owed, but was told it was too late.

Eviction papers had not yet been served on her, but they were a week after she tried to pay her rent.

“(Mitchell) wouldn’t speak to me about it because he knows I don’t let myself be disrespected,” Toledo said. “He let’s his minions speak for him.”

Toledo claims since speaking out, BHA refuses to do maintenance work on her residence and the damage caused by an air conditioner leak the BHA has not repaired has ruined some of her furniture.

“I feel like I’m in prison,” she said. “He makes me feel like crap. Drives by my house and takes pictures of my house and others when he’s off duty. It’s been crazy, insane things.”

Toledo said despite the BHA’s board not taking action against Ellis in 2018, after 23 complaints were detailed in a letter signed by every staff member, she tried to get help from the board again. Toledo said she followed their instructions in how to address the COVID situation, but it hasn’t helped.

“I still got served with the papers and I should not have to go through this,” she said. “It doesn’t make sense. He wants me out because I don’t tolerate his bull crap. It’s ridiculous what this man has done. I can’t believe what is going on here and that no one will do anything about it.”

BHA board chair Bonnie Belford said she maintains full confidence in Mitchell. Belford interviewed the staff members who complained in 2018 and many of the staff members recanted their statements. She said residents and staff should not be afraid to approach board members.

“If we are provided proof that there is abusive behavior, we would certainly take it seriously,” Belford said. “Unfortunately, you get one side of the story and never seem to speak with those residents who follow their lease agreements and don’t have any issues. Trust me, they exist. If you dig deeper, you will find those with issues usually have multiple violations. As I’ve said to you before, I’ve lived in public housing and know the games some tenants play when they are in violation of their lease.”

But it’s not just residents who are complaining. Previous staff members have complained, as has a former board member, Tim Polk, who served at the city of Bradenton’s community development and planning director for many years.

‘I observed some weird things happening’

“I was on the board for two and a half months and observed things that was kind of crazy,” Polk said.

Polk resigned in early 2020 after his daughter was hired by Mitchell, to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. But his daughter was fired a short time later.

In his response to HUD, Mitchell blamed a lot of the agency’s failings on staff shortages throughout the review period. He has since filled all of the positions yet again.

Polk said there was never anything documented regarding his daughter’s firing. While he was concerned with the appearance of nepotism when he resigned from the BHA board, Polk said rumors that Mitchell often has his wife work part time at the agency are true.

“I observed some weird things happening,” Polk said. “He would never get fully staffed up like he’s supposed to and he was probably doing some things illegal from a procurement standpoint.”

HUD did find the BHA failed to follow procurement policy, which authorizes designated employees to spend up to a certain amount of money without needing board approval. Mitchell only responded that the procurement policy he uses was written in 2013 and pledged to HUD to update the policy.

If written in 2013, the policy was in effect under former director Wenston DeSue, who was sentenced to one year in federal prison in 2015 and ordered to pay HUD about $250,000 in restitution for illegal financial practices.

One of DeSue’s practices was to get his former board of directors to give him bonuses even as the agency was sinking in debt. HUD also pointed out a bonus Mitchell approved for himself for over $2,800. Mitchell claimed the money was owed to him as comp time. However, Mitchell doesn’t qualify for comp time as a salaried employee.

HUD ordered Mitchell to pay those funds back. According to the BHA response, Mitchell denies doing anything wrong, but he did pay the money back.

Polk said he reached out to HUD after seeing some troubling management issues.

“I told them we needed a strong housing authority director and he’s not that,” Polk said. “He’s just a compliance hack, that’s what he did for HUD. Wenston was a joke, too, and should have never been hired. Then there’s this guy and you can see the stuff he has not done.”

Enough blame to go around

Polk said HUD is just as much to blame for the issues at the BHA for their inaction.

“If they were doing their job, they would never let him get away with this,” Polk said. “He has terrible management skills. He’s running the housing authority like a lemonade stand and needs to go.”

Polk also shifted blame to the board.

“The board doesn’t care and (Belford) needs to go,” he said. “(Mitchell) looks at the residents like they are the bottom rung of the ladder. He doesn’t trust the residents, doesn’t believe them and has no people skills. That’s why he can’t keep anyone on staff. He puts himself above anyone else.”

HUD also expressed concern about a lack of impartial hearing opportunities for residents. Mitchell provided a firm that has handled the hearings, but that hearing officer stopped working in November of last year. Mitchell turned to the city of Bradenton for a hearing officer, but he didn’t do so until HUD completed its review.

Mitchell denied another HUD finding about records being “improperly destroyed,” outlining the agency’s record keeping process. One reason HUD came to that conclusion is because when asked about a file for a resident who had complained about Mitchell, the director informed HUD that those records aren’t kept.

A former staff member who was fired by Mitchell after presenting the 23 complaints to the board in 2018 said Mitchell’s claim to HUD is false and those records should be kept. Mitchell did not directly address HUD’s specific request for the resident’s file. He only provided a general description of the agency’s record storage process.

HUD also found the BHA’s eviction and termination rates were high, with 94 evictions or terminations over the review period. Investigators wrote residents had complained about BHA threatening to evict them with “adverse actions immediately for any perceived program infraction and use of local laws to justify actions with no mention of federal requirements.”

Mitchell responded that all evictions and terminations were justified, outlining a list of families who were evicted for nonpayment or terminations because the residents moved out without notice, among other reasons.

Mitchell continued to blame staff shortages for other HUD findings, including an inaccurate calculation of flat-rent prices. Mitchell said he is working to correct that, which may lead to some residents getting a refund while others may find themselves owing more.

Other issues like improperly selecting applicants for housing vouchers also are being addressed.

Is it time for a change?

Polk said the housing authority is a bad model for what affordable housing should look like. It is affordable housing, he said, that is going to dictate the future growth of Bradenton.

“If you look at our workforce, it’s steadily growing and we don’t have the cost ranges to accommodate our workforce,” he said. “That includes city and county workers, healthcare workers, school employees, teachers and more. We are getting a lot of inquiries through the Economic Development Council of people wanting to move here, but because of our housing shortage, they are looking elsewhere.”

Polk said a strong housing authority should be a model for future affordable housing projects, but it’s not.

“This agency has the name of our city attached to it,” Polk said. “And the city should take more ownership and until they do, nothing is going to get done about this.”

Another HUD concern was a lack of training for the board members to understand HUD housing programs. Mitchell defended the board’s the amount of training the board receives, but even chairman Belford said they could do better.

“I doubt we could ever receive enough training to fully understand all the rules governing the housing authority,” Belford said. “We ask questions and give it our best. And if others in the community would avail themselves, I doubt if any of us would be serving.”

Despite HUD’s findings, Belford said the Bradenton Housing Authority better off than it was under DeSue.

“Once we have the final report from HUD, the board will meet to determine the best course of action to make sure the business of the (BHA) is being conducted properly and to put in place necessary checks and balances,” Belford said. “Unfortunately, none of us are perfect and none of us know it all.”

This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 8:09 AM.