Hearing Sen. Russ Huxtable tout himself as a recognized leader in workforce housing and community development who led a nonprofit organization that helped people achieve their American dream of homeownership is like hearing Hurricane Milton is doing the same for Florida.
I purchased a market-priced home in the Anthem subdivision that was developed by Milford Housing. When I signed my contract and paid cash at settlement, there was no mention of subsidies, affordable housing or anything else indicating Milford Housing or Huxtable, who was vice president at the time, should receive nonprofit status.
From the beginning, we have struggled to get Milford Housing to fulfill its obligations, while Sussex County and Sussex Conservation District failed to hold them accountable at the most basic levels. I do give credit to Councilman Mark Schaeffer, who did his best to help us.
Huxtable worded our declaration so that the $500 deposit each homeowner believed would go toward our reserve fund went into the operating budget where Milford Housing and Huxtable used it to pay for what they were obligated to build. How dishonest and unethical!
Huxtable claimed that a common area would be a recreational space. Then he made a deal with Sussex County to eliminate a costly drainage system and replace it with a swampy swale that has never functioned properly. SCD signed off on it, leaving us with the mess. Both MH and SCD claimed in an article in this paper last winter that it would be addressed, but that never happened.
We had to file a complaint with the Environmental Protection Agency about an area where the runoff from our development was washing out a protected wetland before SCD required MH to build a catch basin.
Huxtable left us with a pool with drainage issues that have compromised the vinyl liner. The skimmers have never operated properly, and we never know what we’ll find when the pool is uncovered in the spring. They built a poolhouse without proper ventilation for chemical use and storage. How is this even allowed to happen in Sussex County or Delaware? Then Huxtable told us he only built a pool because Ryan Homes insisted on it. As if we should be glad we even got a pool!
We started hearing about affordable housing as these disasters began to unfold, as if we should be grateful that MH and Huxtable had even built our subdivision. While we are not a wealthy neighborhood, many of the houses are second homes for the owners. Please do not insult us by telling us you did us any favors.
The residents of the Anthem development were deceived by Milford Housing and Russ Huxtable. We were strung along by all the watchdog agencies that should have been looking out for us instead of them. Our pleas for help continue to fall on deaf ears.
I believe Kim Hoey Stevenson would bring back the honest leadership this seat had under Sen. Ernie Lopez. Sadly, I know firsthand what a fake Russ Huxtable is.
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