By virtue of being the Missouri treasurer, Clint Zweifel holds an ex-officio position on the Missouri Housing Development Commission, which administers state and federal grants, subsidies, tax credits and other financing to create housing for low-income people.
It’s not a very exciting role, and Mr. Zweifel could have just mailed it in. Instead, the former state representative from Florissant has proposed overhauling MHDC by rethinking and refocusing its priorities. And, if any state agency needs an overhaul, it’s MHDC.
A 2008 report by the Missouri auditor strongly criticized the agency for mismanagement, questionable ethics practices and a review process that doesn’t ensure that money goes to meet the state’s greatest housing needs.
The auditor questioned how much of each taxpayer dollar actually goes toward creating housing, as opposed to absorbing developers’ costs.
Developers — some of whom are very well connected politically — bring their projects before the commission, which considers them on an ad-hoc basis, without much sense of how well the projects serve overall priorities.
Mr. Zweifel has a better idea: Create low-income housing based on the category of residents.
“On any given night in Missouri there are more than 6,000 people homeless,” he has pointed out. “Of those, 1,000 are chronically homeless and most often suffer from a mental illness.”
He would carve out $127 million — a full one-third of the resources available to meet the low-income housing needs in fiscal 2011 — to create permanently supported housing for one of Missouri’s most vulnerable populations: people suffering from acute metal illness and chronic homelessness.
Six of the 10 MHCD commissioners are appointed by the governor; of those appointees, not more than four may share the governor’s party affiliation. The other four seats are filled by the governor, the state treasurer, the attorney general and the lieutenant governor.
Mr. Zweifel has decided to use his seat as a bully pulpit for a good — and smart — cause. He announced his proposal well in advance of the commission’s last meeting on Aug. 20.
But change is hard for some people. Other board members and staff dithered over whether it would be “legal” to set aside money for particular groups.
In the end, Mr. Zweifel won approval for two projects to provide housing for people with special needs, including mental illness. That was a good outcome. In the future, it should be better.
Non-profit advocates and some dedicated state employees work earnestly and creatively to protect this vulnerable group from harm.
Unfortunately, not enough people share this sense of urgency, especially in hard times.
Gov. Jay Nixon told us in January that “it has been 50 years since we have invested any significant dollars in the mental health system in the state.”
But as part of this year’s budget cuts, the Department of Mental Health closed the emergency room at the Metropolitan St. Louis Psychiatric Center on Delmar Boulevard. It had played a crucial role in ensuring that mentally ill patients suffering from traumatic episodes received the care they needed.
The doors were closed without any formal plan to handle these patients. The city’s hospitals stepped in on an interim basis; a replacement system is being devised.
The plight of the mentally ill has not been an urgent priority for state policymakers. Mr. Zweifel is right: MHDC should be working to change that.
