Allan Appel Photo
Michael Schaffer (left) is sworn in by Bob Solomon.
When real estate developer Michael Schaffer was sworn in on Tuesday as the newest housing authority commissioner, he lost no time in questioning staff on bed bugs, elevator repairs and a missing loan payment at the Dwight Co-op Homes.
Schaffer will chair the Planning and Development Committee of the New Haven Housing Authority (HANH) board.
“It’s a logical position for me” said Schaffer (left) after he was sworn in by HANH board chair Bob Solomon.
No stranger to complicated financial deals, Schaffer heads up C.A. White, Inc., a real estate company that owns about a dozen buildings in New Haven, he said.
They include CenterPointe Apartments at Church and Chapel and the “Gold Building” at 234 Church St., home to Chase Bank.
Schaffer was appointed by the mayor, as are all HANH commissioners. Departing chairman and commissioner Bob Solomon did a little pre-mayoral recruiting as well, Schaffer said. He and Solomon are neighbors and their kids play soccer together.
In addition to his new position with the housing authority, Schaffer sits on the board of Start Bank (as does Solomon). He’s a vice chairman of the Science Park Development Corporation board, on the executive committee of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce, and on the board of Long Wharf Theater.
Except for its departing chairman, the housing authority does not often drill down into the issues, especially the complex financial arrangements that are at the heart of subsidizing low income housing. In his debut Tuesday, Schaffer stepped up the level of scrutiny.
At Tuesday’s monthly HANH board meeting, Schaffer got off to a quick start peppering staff with many questions on the 22 resolutions on the agenda, all of which were approved.
When a two-year $106,000 contract for elevator repairs came before him and the other commissioners, Schaffer wanted to know if the contract included standard servicing and inspections. It did not.
Dwight Developer Gets Extension
Thomas MacMillan File Photos
Schaffer also had questions about a proposal to grant an extension on a loan repayment for Garfield Spencer of the First National Development Company, who’s partnering with HANH to fix up 80 units of Dwight cooperative housing at 150 Edgewood Ave. Spencer did not make his first payment on $89,000 of a pre-development loan, which was due in March. A resolution on HANH’s agenda asked for an extension until September for the project, which will be called Dwight Gardens.
“When we do get to September 30th and we don’t get paid, what do we do?” Schaffer asked HANH’s vice president for special projects, Jimmy Miller.
Miller replied that he’s confident, based on his general experience, that the developer will follow through. Over the last five years, HANH has made $5 million in pre-development loans. “And we’ve gotten it all back.”
A pre-development loan is a loan by HANH to developers to enable them to advance the beginning steps of the work such as obtaining architectural drawings and arranging financing. Miller said the HANH loan is never more than half the total pre-development costs.
At Quinnipiac Terrace, for example, the total pre-development loan to HANH’s partners was $594,000, all of which was repaid.
The pre-development budget for Dwight Gardens is far smaller, at $360,000.
Miller called it “problematic” that the developer did not pay back the first $89,000 on time.
Miller said he is not worried: By comparison to larger projects HANH has worked on, Dwight is not complicated. Nevertheless, Miller said as a result of the non-payment, HANH plans to take “a more hands-on approach.”
Miller said that means working more closely, on a daily basis, with the Dwight Gardens developer to, for example, secure a loan from Webster Bank for financing of the project.
Spencer could not be reached for this story.
Bed Bugs Dehydrated, Not Fried
Schaffer also scrutinized the procedure HANH uses to select an agent to issues its bonds to structure financial deals. And he asked if a $121,000 contract to eliminate bed bugs system-wide will get the job done. After staff explained their research and due diligence on the bug issue, Schaffer responded, “This should fry them.”
“It dehydrates them,” Senior Program Administrative Assistant Tim Wagner politely responded.
On Schaffer’s debut, Miller said, “Spending these huge amounts of public funds, we welcome the questioning. The more the better. It keeps us on our toes.”
Solomon called Schaffer a man of “intelligence, integrity, and good humor.”
“Since Bob’s appointment public housing has been transformed” in New Haven, Schaffer responded, citing Q Terrace and Monterey Place among others. He called the Housing Authority “one of the very important institutions” of the city. “I want to be part of what’s happening in a critical agency.”
Of his first day on the job, Schaffer said, he had read through the materials, most of which had been put together without his input, of course. “I asked the questions to satisfy myself that what we did made sense.”
Schaffer’s appointment fills a previous opening. When Solomon leaves this summer, the mayor will have to find another commissioner to replace him.