Whitefish Housing Authority attempts to rebuild trust after waitlist scandal

The Whitefish Housing Authority is now complying with federal housing guidelines and attempting to rebuild tenant trust after a favoritism scandal rocked the public housing authority last year, says new Executive Director Dwarne Hawkins.

Hawkins’ predecessor Lori Collins and former Board of Commissioners Chair Addie Brown-Testa resigned in 2022 after an internal investigation found that friends and relatives of Collins and Brown-Testa were placed into public housing for low-income seniors ahead of other applicants, with tenants and employees alleging that certain tenants received preferential treatment as they were vaulted atop a monthslong waiting list.