Des Moines says it has improve public housing program

The City of Des Moines has turned around low grades it got for operating its public housing programs. This week the city is recognized by the federal Housing and Urban Development agency as a “high performer” in public housing. City manager Eric Anderson says it’s a big improvement.About four years ago they were considered a troubled agency with many problems, so all the staff decided to turn that around. As an example of how that turnaround worked, Anderson points out a score of 46 just four years ago has been raised to 92 with the federal agency. They look at the physical inspections of the city’s housing units, the city’s books on how the housing program is run like a business, and they even survey people who live there.The people who are in public housing say good things about it, he marvels, a good situation since those are the agency’s “customers.” For more on the award, see the city’s website at http://www.mycityhall.net