WOOSTER - The moment he stepped into the 19th century Victorian home, Stan Popp knew he wanted to buy it. Not for himself, but to provide six families with an affordable place to live in a town lacking such accommodations.
“We went up and I walked into that house and before we got through the house I said, ‘I want this house. I want this house,’” said Popp, the executive director of the Wayne Metropolitan Housing Authority.
Popp wasn’t originally sold on the idea. The agency’s Realtor called the director and asked him if he’d be interested in looking at a house on East Bowman Street. At first, he pictured the homes on the south side of the street, a few of which have seen better days.
But on the other hand: Hill knew Allen personally. Their now seventh-grade sons, both currently living in the Plain school system, played together on an Ohio Phenom Academy travel basketball team in 2017, and have played against each other since. And that house Allen leases on 41st Street was the only one purchased last year by the Housing Authority.
Some former and current Housing Authority employees said they believe Hill used his position to give Allen special treatment.
Last month, an anonymous letter was sent to at least some of the Housing Authority s five appointed board members advising them to dig deeper into circumstances surrounding that house, among other matters.
That s according to the Wayne Metropolitan Housing Authority’s executive director.
“I just don’t ever recall a time we’ve been this short on housing units available for our program,” said Stan Popp, the longtime leader of the WMHA.
The organization has 420 units it owns around the county and funds just over 915 federal Section 8 vouchers that subsidize low-income renters in the private market.
There are no vacancies. The agency is paying all the vouchers it can with the funding available.
Those who receive vouchers have 60 days to use them with two possible 30-day extensions.
“More times this year than in any year I can remember, we have had people losing their voucher because it wasn’t utilized, because they just couldn’t find a place,” Popp said.