Columbia Housing Authority preparing for Special Meeting on Thursday

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO)– Mayor Steve Benjamin gave his State of the City address last night where he highlighted the plans for Allen Benedict Court Apartments and a possible shake-up of the Columbia Housing Authority board of commissioners.

We will know a lot more since the Columbia Housing Authority will have a special meeting discussing the Allen Benedict Court Apartments on Thursday but right now, they say their primary focus is getting people into permanent housing.

“I want to make sure the health, life, and safety of our citizens is our priority,” Mayor Benjamin said. 

Mayor Benjamin addressed the ABC Apartment situation during his State of the City speech, he said they are looking at making a lot of changes to make sure a situation like this never happens again even wanting to make statutory changes to the law.  

“I asked if the city can take over the housing authority and if indeed city council members can serve as city housing authority commissioners. We are prohibited by state law from doing that,” Benjamin said.

Columbia Housing Authority has had 3 orientations so far. CHA representative, Diane Sumter says they’ve had at least 60 people at every orientation… and every single one of them has already received a voucher. She said the Housing Authority is helping pay first-month rent, security deposits, and even helping with utilities.

“We’ve been assured by this Friday that every single resident that’d been displaced will have vouchers in hand,” Benjamin said.

Major Benjamin says he wants a third party– like SLED to investigate the living conditions and gas leaks at Allen Benedict Court apartments that killed two men.

“I think we follow the facts, and we make sure at the end of the day, that whoever has not done their job or done something wrong is held accountable,” Benjamin said.

Accountability is something Columbia City Councilman Moe Baddourah is also asking for he says he fully supports an investigation by SLED – or perhaps the FBI since there are federal dollars involved…Also saying, quote  Two people died and hundreds of lives were upended, apparently due to negligence. That’s something we must take seriously”

Mayor Benjamin said the proposed plan is to demolish Allen Benedict Court Apartments. He says they are 40 years past its useful life.