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Foreclosure May Hit HEA Director's Home

Tribune file photo by JASON BEHNKEN (2008)

The Housing and Education Alliance developed this subdivision, Amber Place.

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By MIKE SALINERO

msalinero@tampatrib.com

Published: January 28, 2009

TAMPA - A developer who was heavily involved with Hillsborough County's affordable housing program is in danger of losing her own home to foreclosure.

Sylvia Alvarez has used grant money obtained through the county to teach money management and other personal finance skills to thousands of first-time homebuyers. But court records show Alvarez has been less than successful managing her home finances.

Foreclosure papers filed by Countrywide Homes Inc. show that Alvarez and her fiance, Philip Tagliarini, haven't made a mortgage payment on their home since May. The couple owe an unpaid balance of $311,755 on the home in Palm Bay, a gated subdivision of posh, waterfront homes, west of Town 'N Country.

Alvarez did not return phone messages. She is director of a nonprofit organization, the Housing and Education Alliance, which started teaching first-time homebuyer classes for the county in 2002.

During the period when Alvarez and Tagliarini were falling behind in their house payments, Alvarez successfully positioned HEA to get housing grants as a Community Housing Development Organization.

The county designation immediately made HEA eligible for a $50,000 federal grant for administrative costs, such as salaries, rent and utilities. The county Affordable Housing Office recommended that HEA get the money, but county commissioners balked.

The commission was supposed to revisit the matter Feb. 4, but Affordable Housing officials say they need more time study HEA records. A vote may come later next month.

Some of the concerns:

•Allegations that HEA steered first-time homebuyers to a mortgage company owned by the alliance and run by Alvarez and Tagliarini.

•An HEA affordable housing project called El Capitan Crossings that was never built and is now being foreclosed on by lenders.

•An ongoing lawsuit Alvarez filed against the county seeking reimbursement for water hookup fees at Amber Place, an HEA affordable housing development.

Mike Merrill, the county's affordable housing officer, is heading the review of HEA.

"Without knowing the facts and without knowing the circumstances, I don't think I could say whether or not it would influence my decision" on recommending that HEA get the grant, Merrill said.

Alvarez made news in spring 2007 when her complaints against three Affordable Housing employees prompted a county internal investigation. The investigation's findings were turned over to the U.S. Attorney's Office and a federal investigation is ongoing.

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303.

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