COLUMBIA, S.C. — (WLTX) -- As the Columbia Housing Authority transitions into looking for a new executive director News19's Deep Dive team is looking into the Columbia Housing Authority's property records.
"One of the things that I did was I knew that we could not depend on the federal government in order to get the funds that would be coming in," Columbia Housing Authority Executive Director Gilbert Walker said. "And I have aggressively been going out there trying to find units in the private sector, purchasing along with the banks and then turning around and actually selling the units to private owners with the authority could reap some of the finances and use it for some of the same things we're using it for now."
Walker said that statement at a board meeting, talking about how successful the authority has been buying and selling properties through out the years. The South Carolina Secretary of State website links Walker to more than 20 Columbia Housing Authority properties. The website shows him listed as an agent for the properties. Some of those properties are Celia Saxon, Lorrick Place, as well as a handful of homes near TS Martin Park.
"That's why our financial condition is in the shape that it's in today. The general public do not know that but if you go to our audit you'll see and the board is aware of what the auditor said, the aggressiveness that I took specifically to go outside that rim where most housing authorities normally don't do that," Walker said.
Columbia Housing Authorities Director of Accounting and Finance, Melanie Baker said it is common for directors to be listed as the registered agent. She said the new director will replace Walker on the filings. Baker also said that the Columbia Housing Authority will continue the business of buying and selling property.
"I would think we would continue in that way of buying and selling properties. We acquire properties and then we sell properties depending on how they fit with our community as our community grows and our need change," Baker said. "The agency forms so many LLCs. It's common business practice to form different LLCs for different operations. So these are basically different communities, so one community has an LLC and another community would have an LLC, so it's easier to buy and sell as you need to as you develop land and acquire land."
Meanwhile, Baker says, as the Columbia Housing Authority transitions into looking for a new executive director, Gilbert Walker will remain the point of contact for those properties until a new executive director is named or until the filings are changed.
OUR PROBE:
In our investigation, we've uncovered previous maintenance problems in the units at Allen Benedict Court, that showed there were concerns about the units well before January 17th. We have a mountain of documents related to the case, as well as interviews with residents, and we continue to present new information each day.
You can see more into our probe below:
RELATED: DEEP DIVE: Work orders highlight potentially life-threatening problems at Allen Benedict Court
RELATED: 'Maybe they care, maybe they don't' Columbia Housing resident speaks out about maintenance issues
RELATED: EMS radio recordings describe moments after man was found in his apartment at Allen Benedict Court
RELATED: Allen Benedict Court work orders show history of maintenance issues at deceased resident's apartment
LAWSUITS:
There have also been multiple lawsuits filed in connection to the case. You can see our coverage of those below.
RELATED: Lawsuit alleges Allen Benedict Court Resident suffered from 'gas poisoning' well before evacuations