He leaves amid a cloud of allegations that he and the agency misused about $1 million of federal funds over the past three years. Hutchins denies the allegations.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has been investigating charges that Hutchins misused at least $800,000 earmarked for three HUD-owned apartment buildings in this Central Florida city, 25 miles north of Downtown Orlando.

About $65,000 is alleged to have gone into two commercial real estate development companies co-owned by Hutchins. He vehemently denies those allegations.

The housing authority itself has been slapped with two federal court judgments totaling $65,000 in the past two weeks. The authority was ordered to pay $50,000 to a disabled tenant and her lawyer after the tenant received a city parking ticket for leaving her car on the apartment lawn.

In the second case, the authority was ordered to pay $15,000 in legal fees to lawyers who had represented four tenants in a suit charging the authority with illegally entering their apartments without a search warrant. The city of Sanford also paid $10,000 separately to close that suit.

The Sanford Housing Authority has been the center of charges alleging improper administration of county and federal funds since at least 1985, court records show. Three previous executive directors have either been fired or resigned over allegations they mishandled financial and administrative duties.

Instant Insights /

Hudson Quitting Scandal-Rocked Housing Authority as HUD Probe Ending

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