HOME Media Kit Advertising Contact Us About Us

 

Web The Truth


Community Calendar

Dear Ryan

Classifieds

Online Issues

Send a Letter to the Editor


 

 
 

Demetria Simpson: Her Leadership Is Making a Difference at LMHA

By Fletcher Word
Sojourner’s Truth Editor

When Demetria Simpson came on board the Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority in September 2015 as the director of Real Estate Development & Modernization fresh from similar duties along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, she had expected to be doing just that for the foreseeable future – helping LMHA in those very particular areas.
 

“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.

   
   


Copyright © 2018 by [The Sojourner's Truth]. All rights reserved.
Revised: 08/16/18 14:12:11 -0700.


More Articles....

Fros Fashions and Finds :Natural Styles for Summer Brides

Preserving Natural Hair During Water Recreation

Motown Dinner & Dance Cruise Fundraiser

African American Festival Draws Thousands to SeaGate Center

The Annual Combined Session of the Order of the Pythagorans and Grand Girls Assembly

Annual Block Party at Toledo Museum of Art
 


   

Back to Home Page