“My background is in
planning and economic development and I wanted to continue
my career in that way,” she says. Her career has grown well
beyond that path.
Simpson was hired at LMHA
by then-CEO Linnie Willis. She was a long way from her
Hattiesburg home, a long way from the Gulf Coast which she
had been instrumental in helping to rebuild in the
post-Katrina years. A long way from most of her family and
then thrust into the turmoil that plagued LMHA during that
period.
Even though LMHA was
working its way through some profound development projects
during that period, and still is, the leadership issue was
becoming unsettled. The board had brought in Martin LaMar as
the COO – the Authority’s number two – in late 2014. Willis
was soon gone, only months after Simpson had signed up, and
LaMar assumed the top position. He asked Simpson to be his
COO and she accepted.
LaMar’s reign turned out
to be brief. He was soon forced out and the board turned to
Simpson, who became CEO in June 2017, after less than two
years at the Authority. She was appointed, said the board in
its press release, because they felt “her leadership will
make a difference.”
Now, a year into her
tenure, Simpson has certainly grasped the leadership reins
and has moved swiftly to analyze as many aspects of the
Authority as possible.
She began a financial
assessment of the Authority bringing in an outside firm to
assist; a number of leadership positions that had been
vacant have been filled; a five-year strategic plan has been
completed and a firm has been brought on to help the staff
implement it – board approval is expected to be forthcoming
any day now.
In addition, in order to
improve workplace morale and implement “a culture of
excellence,” Simpson has brought in another consultant to
help develop the LMHA Academy that will be launched in 2019.
“Everyone here should know the basics,” she explains. “We
are so heavily regulated in public housing.”
The Academy will help the
staff work on building relationships with the community
especially in “teaching the community how valuable our
contribution to the community is,” says Simpson.
To that end, a community
symposium was held in May to receive input from the
community on “how we can be partners in providing affordable
housing for our residents,” says Simpson.
The good news for the
Authority started before Simpson moved to town. LMHA is in
the middle of a long-term building project that is creating
hundreds of new units. Already the first two phases have
been completed in the Collingwood Green building project.
Phase one was a senior citizen complex of 68 units; the
58-unit phase two was for families. The groundbreaking for
phase three – 55 family units – will be held within a few
months. Phases four and five – still very much in the
planning stage – will bring the project to the corner of
Division and Nebraska and will include market rate units
along with commercial projects such as markets and perhaps
some retail and financial
The bad news, however, is
the future of LMHA’s funding. “Seventy-six percent of our
funding comes from the government,” says Simpson. “This past
year has been the scariest of them all.” Funding from the
Department of Housing and Urban Development will most likely
continue to dry up during these years of a Republican
administration in Washington, D.C.
“We have to find ways of
doing business to leverage the funding we receive from the
government,” she adds. Across the nation there are 3,300
public housing authorities, Says Simpson, and they need $26
billion for the renovation of existing units.
“It’s just one of those
situations where we don’t get enough funding to keep up with
the repairs on our units,” she explains. In addition, Lucas
County, says Simpson, doesn’t have a comprehensive housing
plan.
The plan is to continue to
build partnerships with other entities in the community,
especially non-profit organizations. “We’d like to be
creative in coming up with solutions to help the homeless
population,” says the director, adding a phrase that
ProMedica is also championing: “solving the social
determinants of health.”
A Mississippi native,
Simpson earned a bachelor of science degree in community and
regional planning with continued studies in economic
development from the University of Southern Mississippi. She
is also a graduate of the John F. Kennedy School of
Government Executive Program at Harvard University where she
participated in the Women and Power: Leadership in a New
World program. She was selected as Glamour Magazine’s 50
Inspiring Women of The Year from Around America in 2014. |