David Levine — the executive director of Mountainlands Community Housing Trust — committed to explore and rectify the concerns of the residents at the trust’s Parkview Place subdivision in Heber City.

During Heber City Council’s Aug. 1 meeting, three residents of Mountainlands Community Housing Trust’s Heber subdivision stood up to express their displeasure and frustration with the nonprofit corporation dedicated to providing affordable housing.

They reported incorrect paint colors, questionable work, disregarded timelines, a lack of communication and a concern about whether Heber City should continue working with MCHT given their personal experiences.

---

---

Over a month later and after a meeting with Heber City and the concerned residents, MCHT Executive Director David Levine offered an explanation for the lapse in communication.

Levine, who took the position as director in March, said promises and verbal agreements had been made with buyers but not recorded, leading to what eventually became misunderstandings between MCHT and the residents of Parkview Place. Additionally, he said, the COVID-19 pandemic made the projects’ original timelines unfeasible.

---

---

“As with so many other contractors and home builders, there were material shortages, labor shortages and massive cost overruns on construction,” Levine said to The Park Record. “We ran into that on these homes. When you say that they’re three years overdue, a lot of that had to do with the fact that we were doing this through COVID.”

Jessica Potter, a teacher at a local middle school and a Parkview Place resident who moved into her new home in July, spoke with The Park Record about the concerns she had with her home after moving in.

Her exterior paint color was different from what she agreed to, a layer of foam lining her foundation was visible, certain parts of her stand-up shower wouldn’t drain and the appliances in her home were different than what she said she agreed to.

Several of these problems were repeated by other residents during their Aug. 1 comments, and they added that communication throughout the construction process had been unreliable with long periods of time passing where they didn’t receive any updates about their homes.

After the residents spoke with the Heber City Manager and David Levine, Potter described the meeting as going as well as she could have hoped for. The real determining factor, she said, would be whether MCHT kept its commitments.

According to Heber City’s public information officer Ryan Bunnell, the meeting reassured the city about the quality of MCHT’s development after its representatives “agreed to make good on all of the complaints.”

Now, Levine said, residents have his phone number, and he is working to be easily accessible.

In an email to The Park Record sent yesterday, he said he walked through the homes with the residents last Thursday with his construction supervisor to see the issues and determine a plan.

“All in all, I think most of the items are new home issues and are readily fixable,” he said. “Other items are warrantied by the manufacturers and we will pursue fixes.”