Louisville Metro Housing Authority undergoes major overhaul under new director

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — When Elizabeth Strojan took over at Louisville Metro Housing Authority six months ago, the public housing agency was almost at rock bottom as residents were dealing with crime, rodents, mold and leaks, all the result of years of poor maintenance and neglect.

The picture that many have of Louisville's public housing is Dosker Manor. But, that is just one frame of the picture as LMHA is home to thousands of people.

“So we think about teachers’ aides, we think about certified nursing assistants, people who make this city run depend on LMHA. This is absolutely an economic engine that we are running,” Strojan said.

When Strojan took over LMHA, the staff was, in her words, "barebones." Some of the same people were working on an endless number of tasks and attending the same meetings. Now, Strojan is in the process of restructuring the agency.

“When you don’t have enough people, when you don't have the right structure it feels like you are running on stilts and chewing gum at the same time while you are juggling, and everyone is heckling you about it is impossible to do this extremely difficulty work if you don't have the right structure,” Strojan said.

Strojan came into an agency floundering in paperwork. COVID-19 had wreaked havoc on the agency, and critical paperwork was not getting done.

“When I first got here, I asked for an audit of that program, so right now we are looking at the report from the auditors and responding to the recommendations, so we will have to share on that publicly very soon,” Strojan said.

However, no conversation about LMHA is complete without a mention of Dosker Manor.

“Dosker Manor we believe is past that point. Dosker Manor is to the point of obsolescence which is the standard HUD looks at, so what we are in the process of doing is proving to HUD that it is not worth preserving that property in its current form,” said Strojan.

Proving to the federal government that Dosker needs to come down will take time. But once it is done, the skyline and the city will have a much different look.

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