SAN JOSE — A grand jury has scorched a Santa Clara County housing agency for blunders in its attempts to wheel and deal on a San Jose office building that became a money-losing odyssey of lost opportunities.
The county housing agency’s blunders arose from its efforts to find a future headquarters for its staff and client meetings. But by September 2022, the Housing Authority sold the office building — which the county agency never occupied — for only $24 million. That was a core loss of $13.5 million. As a result, the county agency began to cast about for options, including constructing a new headquarters on East Santa Clara Street near the downtown. The Housing Authority calculated it would cost $100 million to build a new headquarters at the East Santa Clara Street site, according to the grand jury investigation. That amount was deemed to be prohibitively expensive.
“Santa Clara County Housing Authority executive management presented the ad hoc committee, and later the full housing agency board, with financially flawed analyses, and evaluated only options to sell the property without seriously or rigorously considering alternatives,” the grand jury stated in its report.
“This report shows a lack of governance by the Housing Authority board over Preston Prince and his executive staff,” Staedler said. “They have both failed the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in their role.”“The lack of transparency and misrepresentation of the material facts cannot be excused,” Staedler said.