The Housing and Redevelopment Authority of Butler County must reapply for a federal program it has already invested more than $275,000 into because of conditions its former executive director failed to meet.

The authority previously filed applications with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to enroll two properties in the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program, which allows public housing agencies to use public and private debt and equity to reinvest in public housing.

The director of HUD’s office in Pittsburgh told authority officials in January that former executive director Perry O’Malley failed to keep HUD up to date on the applications, saying he instead was focused on consulting with other authorities.

O’Malley was fired a week ago today for multiple allegations, among them neglecting to perform his duties.

The authority board would not comment on whether issues with the RAD program were among the complaints against him.

“From a HUD standpoint, the application is on life support due to a failure to meet clearly defined milestones,” John Trant, interim executive director, told the authority board at its meeting Thursday.

The authority also had planned to use the conversion of the Terrace and Cliffside apartments to help fund renovations in the buildings, which includes making eight units in Terrace comply with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.

The authority voted Thursday to pull the application before HUD revoked it.

“It’s not possible for us to meet the benchmarks,” Trant said, adding HUD would have looked negatively on any future applications had the original application been revoked. “Either way we’ll go to the bottom of the list.”

Trant also said the authority’s $275,000 in expenses have not been wasted because it will be able to use the information gathered during the application process in its next attempt at the program.

HUD had previously extended the deadline for the authority to meet the benchmarks.

Trant said there were multiple issues with the applications for the two buildings, including financing for the project and the scope of work being done to the Terrace Apartments.

The authority had originally planned to remodel 12 units into eight ADA accessible units. Trant said a consultant recently hired by the authority to review the projected said it would not be necessary to combine multiple units to make one ADA unit.

The change in the plans will allow the authority to keep all 160 units in the complex and will allow additional funding for other work. However, it would push any chance of reaching the benchmarks past HUD’s deadlines, even if the authority could correct the other issues with the project.

The RAD program started in 2012. In the program, public units move to Section 8 with a long-term contract that must be renewed. This ensures the units remain permanently affordable to low-income households, according to HUD.

The authority said the program would give it more freedom in managing its properties.

The housing authority in October 2012 submitted an application to enroll the Terrace Apartments in the program and was given a commitment to enter into a Housing Assistance Payment contract award in December of that year.

The authority then submitted an application for the Cliffside Apartments the following year.

However, HUD officials on Jan. 29 voted to send a letter to the authority providing a notice of revocation of the two previously awarded commitments because multiple benchmarks had not been met for either application.

While the authority has been working on the applications since 2012, Trant said it would not take another two years for the authority to catch up to where it is at in the application process.

“We’re talking a period of months,” he said.