HUD planning to take over Atlantic City Housing Authority, citing failures to carry out improvement plan
The Atlantic City Housing Authority may soon fall under federal control, according to a letter unveiled by New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew this week.
Van Drew — a Republican whose district covers most of South Jersey, including Atlantic City — said the Department of Housing and Urban Development had found ACHA to be "in substantial default," or in other words, had violated one or more tenets of the Housing Act of 1937.
In the letter, HUD's Acting Public Housing Director in Newark, Monica Hawkins, said ACHA failed to complete goals outlined in a "recovery agreement" to get ACHA back on track. The authority had scored 45 out of 100 on a HUD assessment in 2023, a score that gave the authority a designation as "troubled." The score lowered to 40 out of 100 in another assessment issued in March 2025.
Goals were set including increasing the assessment score to at least 60 and boosting occupancy of ACHA units to 96%. That goal was not met, with HUD measuring that only 71.4% of the units were occcupied, according to the letter.
HUD said ACHA failed to meet other goals in the category of "improving physical conditions of dwelling units." Several forms detailing possible work that could improve those properties were still just drafts and not finalized, according to the letter.
In 2024, Atlantic City officials outlined a plan to invest over $3 million in the struggling Stanley Holmes Village, a complex mentioned multiple times in the assessment.
Here's a portion of Van Drew's statement issued Monday:
"Families were freezing in their homes, living with mold, no heat, no hot water, and no help. It was unacceptable. I promised the people I would not stop until something changed, and today, accountability is here. I want to thank Secretary Turner for giving this situation the attention it deserved. The failed governance is being addressed, and now it is going to be rebuilt from the ground up. We fought hard, and we got the job done."
Atlantic City has 10 workdays to respond or appeal. A spokesperson for the city did not respond to an email requesting comment Tuesday.
Problems plagued some ACHA units for years, residents say
CBS News Philadelphia previously reported on issues at one apartment complex operated by ACHA, the Stanley Holmes Village Apartments — .
In December 2022, results of an inspection were released detailing issues with heat, infestations of rodents, bedbugs and roaches, nd mold, broken toilets and other issues. City inspectors reported finding problems in all 320 apartments they visited over several days.
The inspection found all units had basic heat, but in some, the heat did not meet standards — with some bedrooms cooler than the required minimum temperature of 68 degrees. Others had temperatures over 80 degrees. Nearly 50 units had issues with hot water.
Late last year, officials held a news conference and discussed an action plan to address the issues at Stanley Holmes Village, including $3.5 million in investments for higher efficiency boilers and sensors that can detect leaks and temperature issues. At that time, residents of 72 units had voluntarily transferred out of the apartments' Village 3.
