By MELISSA PEACOCK

RESERVE – Problems in St. John the Baptist Parish low-income housing developments have not disappeared, Housing Authority Director Alice Hubbard Crenshaw said.

There are still work orders on public housing units and there is still crime in public housing communities. But while there is room for improvement, both in the office and on the streets, Crenshaw is optimistic about the outlook for the parish’s public housing.

Last summer, the Sheriff’s Office increased patrols in Reserve Oak housing development. The move came after a series of shootings left at least three injured.

But increased police units did not seem to turn the tide of violence – at least not at first. In June, a vacant housing unit under renovations was burned under suspicious circumstances. No one was living in the unit at the time and the power to the building had not been turned on.

Apartment 202 was under repair. It was, before an intense fire swept through its core, slated to be home to a new Sheriff’s Office substation.

While plans for the substation were abandoned, the sheriff’s deputies continued to fight against drugs, crime and arson within the community. In August, officers raided the housing development, confiscating drugs, weapons and stolen goods.

A slew of individuals, pulled from sleep by officers during the early morning raid, were arrested. Some of the people arrested, the Sheriff’s Office later reported, appeared to be living in Reserve Oak but were not legal tenants. A second raid followed just weeks later.

Officials from the Sheriff’s Office and the St. John the Baptist Parish Council said poor management and confusion within the Housing Authority were partly to blame for the outbreak of crime in public housing communities.

In October, Crenshaw took the reigns, replacing former director Claudette Raphael, who resigned from the position but continued to serve as head until the position could be filled.

“We, the employees, know there is still drug activity,” Crenshaw said when asked about crime in public housing. “You see the tell-tale signs.”

Crenshaw has met with Sheriff’s Office officials and her goal, she said, is to find funding to keep police patrols in the public housing developments when “drug elimination monies” have been depleted. Community involvement could help further decrease drugs and criminal activity.

“We have been working to get that (the resident organization) working,” Crenshaw said. “We want to start getting some activities started for the children. I would also like to, if I could, channel some money, until I could get funding, to get a resident council started.”

But problems with St. John Parish’s public housing system are not limited to crime in the housing developments. Outdated technology, a slack organizational structure and a backlog of work orders in the Housing Authority have contributed to the growing problems within public housing.

“We are dealing with antiquated technology,” Crenshaw said. “I am in the process of trying to get computers and software to match it so that employees can do their jobs more efficiently.”

The agency, she said, has been getting used equipment. In addition, outdated software was matched to the computers.

“We are having to do so much manually,” she said. “Rent receipts (for example) are not automated into the computer.”

In the meantime, the authority’s maintenance crews and staff have been working to catch up old work orders.

“I hired a maintenance coordinator who runs maintenance and construction projects,” Crenshaw said. “He has more than 25 years of experience.”

In addition, Crenshaw changed the organizational structure, redesigning job descriptions and breaking down the department into three subsections with a supervisor.

With that done, Crenshaw said, it is time to work on the goal for 2003 – implementing a “Vacancy Reduction Program.” The program is aimed at filling vacant public housing units.

There are about 70 vacant public housing units in the parish. At least 47 people are on the waiting list to get into public housing.

“It all boils down to no management,” Crenshaw said, when asked why so many units are vacant. “There is not a valid reason why they are not leased out.”