Embattled head of Homestead CRA resigns

BY REBECCA DELLAGLORIA

[email protected]

Rick Stauts, the beleaguered director of the Homestead Community Redevelopment Agency, has resigned his job and been placed on administrative leave.

Stauts' agency has come under fire in recent months, beginning with the release of a critical draft audit of the CRA last year that led to the firing of the auditor, Jim Albritton.

Most recently, Stauts' decision to spend $2 million in city money to buy some 42 dilapidated shotgun houses from former County Manager and Homestead Mayor Steve Shiver -- after paying Shiver more than $300,000 to keep the units empty -- had outraged some council members and residents. The units were purchased for redevelopment as affordable housing. [More]