‘No dignity.’ Ott hurls insults at Harpootlian over homeless vet housing comments

S.C. state Rep. Russell Ott is calling state Sen. Dick Harpootlian an “elitist blowhard” who has no dignity after the senator commented on a proposed housing development in Columbia that some residents have worried would be used to house homeless veterans.

“Our veterans deserve better than to be told by an elitist blowhard where they can and can’t call home,” Ott tweeted in reference to Harpootlian’s comments at a recent Columbia Design/Development Review Commission hearing on the proposed Woodley apartment complex off of North Main Street.

Ott is running against Harpootlian for Nikki Setzler’s seat in Senate District 26.

Harpootlian took aim at the proposed apartments in the Cottontown neighborhood alongside area residents who he said have told him they believe the complex will be used to house homeless veterans. The apartment developers, however, told the city that they plan to build standard, market-rate apartments with no support services.

“These folks don’t need homeless people living in their neighborhood,” said Harpootlian at the commission meeting. “My office is two blocks from here. I don’t need more homeless people defecating in my parking lot every morning, which is what is happening right now. If this is for homeless veterans, they should not be housed in the middle of this residential neighborhood.”

Ott released a statement via Twitter that said, “It is sad Dick chose to pop off at the mouth and flippantly take a swipe at veterans. The man has no dignity — he just doesn’t seem to care about people — and they deserve better. In South Carolina we take care of our veterans because they have taken care of us. Dick should apologize to all our veterans for his comments.”

Harpootlian fired back, writing via Twitter, “One of us is a self-made, first generation college graduate — the other is a guy whose daddy gave him a State House seat and has paid him $600k to do his legislative bidding. Who is the real elitist blowhard?”

Ott responded, “You’re ‘self made’ so now veterans don’t deserve housing? You’d think a college grad would know some veterans wouldn’t be homeless if they have homes … More than happy to discuss WHO we work for at another time,” quoting Harpootlian’s tweet.

Harpootlian said he would support the project if it provided services for mental and physical health to homeless veterans house at The Woodley, or if it had a “market multifamily project” not using government funded vouchers, Harpootlian told the Post and Courier in a later interview.

At one point, The Woodley was expected to accept special housing vouchers given to low-income veterans, residents say were told.

A representative for The Woodley developer, Lauren Taylor, is also CEO of the affordable housing development company Haven Homes Foundation. On an archived page of the foundation’s website, The Woodley is listed as being “a community for veterans,” utilizing HUD-VASH vouchers, which are housing vouchers meant for low-income veterans.

But developers said support services for veterans are no longer part of the plans for the project and it is now being planned as standard market-rate apartments.

Columbia planning commissioners, who have approved the project, said if the developers were to change the use of the facility, it would require another round of approvals from city officials.

Staff writer Morgan Hughes contributed reporting.