KILLEEN, Texas — We’ve been telling you about a number of issues facing the Killeen Housing Authority after most of the staff quit in September following the mishandling of funds being exposed.
The financial troubles at KHA are now taking a toll on the homeless community in Killeen.
A lack of insurance funding has forced them to close the Moss Rose Community Center downtown.
Mr. Ron is one of many affected people in Killeen who rely on the Moss Rose Community Center every week.
”A lot, they feed me,” said Mr. Ron. “If I get cold at nights, I go over there when they have that cold shelter. They help me out a lot.”
Help he really needed when the cold weather hit this week.
“I'm outside,” said Mr. Ron. “I went through all that rain and all that.”.
The Moss Rose Center is run by the Killeen Housing Authority who said they don’t have funding for insurance on the building.
”We are working with some other organizations that said they would purchase the insurance until we get the funding to purchase it ourselves,” said Bruce Whiteside, KHA Board Member.
That organization is the League of United Latin American Citizens.
LULAC District 17 Director AnaLuisa Carrillo-Tapia, who volunteers at the Moss Rose Center every week, helped make that happen.
”We attended the Housing Authority Board of Directors meeting, and we were told that the reason that Moss Rose had closed was because there’s no insurance,” said Carrillo-Tapia. “So, we looked to our leadership and our leadership gave us a certificate of insurance.”
Killeen Housing Authority said the doors are staying closed until they can fix an issue with the insurance paperwork. Leaving people like Mr. Ron with nowhere to go.
”I don’t know how to phase it but, the place is really needed,” said Mr. Ron. “Really needed bad because there’s people out there worse than me.”
The Killeen Housing Authority said they will discuss the insurance at the meeting on Monday and get the doors open at the Moss Rose Community Center as soon as they can.
