SAN JOSE — A housing agency has pushed back on some findings and recommendations of a Santa Clara County civil grand jury regarding the organization’s blunders with a San Jose office building.
In June, a grand jury issued a scathing report that criticized how the Santa Clara County Housing Authority handled its purchase and then the sale of a big office building at 3553 North First Street in San Jose.
North San Jose office building at 3553 North First Street. (Newmark)
“Flawed information, flawed decisions” was the title of the civil grand jury report on the Housing Authority’s botched efforts to handle its ownership and disposition of an office building on a prominent north San Jose corner that the housing agency had once eyed as its headquarters.
The Housing Authority’s purchase of the office building and the agency’s subsequent sale of the empty property triggered a jaw-dropping $16.2 million loss in less than two years for the county organization, the grand jury determined in its June 10 report.
Among the key findings by the grand jury — and the responses by the county Housing Authority:
— The County Housing Authority executive management presented “incomplete and financially incorrect analytical documents about the property: and omitted viable options for occupying, using, or selling the property. The Housing Authority responded that it “disagrees in whole” with this assessment.
— The housing agency’s current five-year plan doesn’t establish measurable objectives, goals, or accomplishments to enable a measurable way to assess its performance. The Housing Authority responded that it “disagrees in part” with this analysis.
— The County Housing Authority’s five-year term plan does not identify specific office space needs and a funding plan to support those requirements. The housing agency stated it “agrees with this finding.”
— The grand jury recommended that the Housing Authority’s board establish a standard operating procedure that requires executive management to use internal or external experts to confirm the validity of financial analytical documents. The housing agency said it won’t implement this recommendation.
— The civil jury proposed that the county housing agency amend its five-year plan to include actionable performance targets and measurable objectives. These performance targets should be made part of the annual reviews for the housing agency’s executive director and staff, the jury stated. The Housing Authority said this recommendation will be implemented by July 2025.
— The Housing Authority should include an assessment of space needs and necessary funding requirements as part of its five-year plans, the grand jury recommended. The agency responded that it plans to institute the proposal by July 20
The county’s housing agency landed in hot water due to its decisions — and how it arrived at them — for transactions related to the 3553 North First office building, which totals 86,100 square feet.
In December 2020, the Housing Authority paid $37.5 million for the office building — which, ominously, was once occupied by LeEco, a China-based tech company whose Silicon Valley operations imploded without warning.
In September 2022, the Housing Authority sold the office building — which the county agency never occupied — for only …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
