Indiana Ave senior residents tell IHA they feel unsafe

Residents at a senior apartment complex on Indiana Avenue say they don’t feel safe in their building.

The security cameras don’t work. Anyone can get into the building because doors are sometimes left propped open. And once, resident Jennifer Washington said a stranger followed her to her apartment.

“I just want somebody to know how unsafe it is here,” Washington told Mirror Indy.

She and other residents took their concerns to the Indianapolis Housing Agency during a board meeting Feb. 11.

Residents were asking for IHA’s help because the agency subsidizes their rent. The apartment building also is managed by an IHA employee, according to residents and Indiana’s public employee compensation portal.

But residents didn’t leave the board meeting with many answers.

Kimberly Wize, IHA’s lone board member who replaced the previous board, told residents the apartments at 825 Indiana Ave. are privately owned, which limits how the agency can be involved.

Michael Robinson, IHA’s facilities manager, said doors are supposed to be locked, but some people are using sticks and other items to keep the doors from latching closed.

When Mirror Indy visited the apartments on the morning of Feb. 12, residents said they had just kicked out a homeless man who was sleeping in a stairway. Residents say people often sleep there and leave behind feces and urine.

Staff at the apartments told a Mirror Indy reporter to leave the building and said they weren’t allowed to answer questions.

This isn’t the first time residents at Indiana Avenue Apartments have complained to IHA about safety and security. Meeting minutes show some residents raised similar concerns as early as 2020.

The difference now is that the agency is almost a full year into a federal takeover.

And the next time residents go to a board meeting, they’ll see the agency’s first permanent CEO in more than a year.

As Yvonda Bean takes over, she’ll have plenty more than angry residents to deal with.

Contractors haven’t been paid

Bean, who was CEO of the Columbia Housing Authority in South Carolina, is joining IHA at a challenging time for the agency, which is supposed to provide safe subsidized housing for thousands of residents in Indianapolis.

Her hiring is the latest in a string of changes under federal leadership of IHA, which comes after more than two decades of mismanagement that resulted in some people becoming homeless amid the city’s housing crisis.

In December, the board also dissolved the agency’s police force and entered into a contract with Securitas Security Services Inc.

At the February meeting, IHA’s board also announced that it had ended its relationship with Hayes Gibson Property Services, a Bloomington-based firm that has managed several properties.

The move has left some contractors unpaid, according to two people who spoke at this month’s IHA board meeting.

Kimberlie Renée, chief financial officer for Stowe’s Mowing & Landscape, said her company has not been paid for $346,000 in outstanding invoices. It was Renée’s understanding that IHA would inherit those invoices, but she has not gotten an answer despite reaching out to the agency multiple times.

“It’s definitely frustrating, it’s disappointing,” Renée told Mirror Indy after the board meeting. “We do have people that work hard and families to take care of, and it’s really cutting into our bottom line.”

Another contractor said Hayes Gibson left her company with a $118,000 unpaid invoice.

Asked when IHA might know when contractors could expect payment, Wize said she didn’t know.

“Until we have a really good sense of what is outstanding, we’re not going to know that,” Wize told Renée. “I apologize that I can’t provide a better answer.”

IHA interim CEO Willie Garrett declined to answer Mirror Indy’s questions after the board meeting and did not respond to a list of emailed questions.

Outgoing manager faced criticism

Hayes Gibson has faced criticism and allegations of poor management at the IHA properties it oversaw.

Last year, a longtime resident of Laurelwood Apartments on the south side told Fox59 that residents there had been threatened for eviction due to faulty recordkeeping and a failure to recertify residents who qualified for subsidized rent.

Hayes Gibson also has struggled to house as many tenants as it had units for. The company’s CEO, Alexandra Jackiw, told the IHA board last year that the average occupancy rate of most of its properties hovered around 50%.

Hayes Gibson did not respond to voicemails left by Mirror Indy last week.

IHA has issued a request for proposals to replace Hayes Gibson.

In the meantime, IHA will take over management of the properties.

Emily Hopkins is a Mirror Indy reporter focused on data and accountability. You can reach them by email at emily.hopkins@mirrorindy.org. 

Mirror Indy reporter Tyler Fenwick covers housing and labor. Contact him at tyler.fenwick@mirrorindy.org.