Lawrence Co. housing group warrants special HUD audit

Affordable Housing, a nonprofit group that received $200,000 in public funds when it was spun-off from the Lawrence County Housing Authority, recently bought seven homes in New Castle and paid $88,000 more than the total assessed value of the properties. A special audit by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development of the transactions is warranted.
Why HUD? Because the agency funds the county housing authority, which gave Affordable Housing the $200,000 in seed money in 2003.
Although most of the $327,000 total purchase price came from a $250,000 loan the nonprofit entity secured from First Commonwealth Bank, $77,000 came out of the $200,000 from LCHA. HUD's regional director, Guy Ciarrochi, told The Vindicator that while the federal government does not oversee Affordable Housing, it does conduct yearly audits of the county housing authority. In that regard, HUD would examine any interaction between the two entities.
But given that taxpayer dollars were used in the transactions that, at first glance, do raise eyebrows, HUD should seek answers to these questions: Why did the nonprofit group pay $88,000 more than the total assessed value of the duplexes, triplexes and a fourplex? What criteria did Affordable Housing use in selecting the properties? Was there any kind of relationship between the owners, Nick DeRosa, John Orlando, Harry DeRosa and David L. Definbaugh, and members of the board?
Ownership issue
The last question is prompted by the inability of the nonprofit group's secretary, Donald "Ducky" Conti, to explain why most of the homes were brought from Nick DeRosa and Harry DeRosa. It's unclear whether the DeRosas are related.
Conti also could not explain the discrepancy in what Affordable Housing paid for the homes compared with the county assessments. He said the bank handled the appraisals of the houses.
There is another issue that HUD should delve into, given that public dollars were used to launch the nonprofit group, and it has to do with what former President Robert Evanick, who is executive director of the Lawrence County Housing Authority, called a change in direction. Evanick explained that when Affordable Housing was created in 2003, its plan was to build new housing in Union Township for disabled people. However, it was unable to get the proper zoning for the project and so the decision was made to buy homes, renovate them and rent them out. Tenants will be given the option of buying them or continuing to rent.
Evanick, who resigned as president shortly after he co-signed for the $250,000 bank loan, said of his decision to step down, "I didn't want to prevent them from what they were doing." He added, "My real interest was to build housing for disabled people in the county. I decided I was no longer interested. What they're doing now is smaller stuff. On that scale, I don't think I had the time."
If Affordable Housing was created to provide housing for the disabled and now has taken a new direction, should the group still keep the $200,000 it received from the county housing authority?
That's another question HUD should answer.