Dawn E. Sanders has been the point person since 2007 for the biggest landlord in Buffalo, managing 5,364 rental units with 10,000 residents in 32 housing developments whose upkeep affects neighborhood vitality and property values across the city.

She hasn’t always gotten rave reviews.

But Sanders appears to have improved enough to win a contract extension as executive director when Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority commissioners meet Thursday, even if the view among tenants is much more mixed.

“She’s a much better manager now than when she started. I think it’s just maturity,” said authority board Chairman Michael Seaman, adding that Sanders has grown in the job. “I’ve been very persistent in working with her in regards to her management skills. She doesn’t get as frustrated when [board members] ask her questions. She sits back and listens before she responds.”

In May 2009, commissioners extended Sanders’ contract for only one year and came up with goals and objectives to benchmark her progress. Fourteen months later, Sanders appears to have support from at least a majority of the seven-member board, five of whose members are appointed by the mayor.

But Joseph Mascia likely won’t be one of them. Mascia, who recently won a third term as one of two tenant-elected commissioners, has been one of Sanders’ harshest critics.

“I still feel the same,” said Mascia, who abstained from last year’s vote to extend Sander’s contract. “I never did like her management style. I think she’s not in touch with residents. She hasn’t been almost from the start. She tries, but there is a disconnect there.”

Shaffer Village resident Elaine Diallo was critical of Sanders even before she was elected recently as the other tenant commissioner. She said she doesn’t know how she will vote. Homicides, drug-related crimes and deteriorating living conditions at the apartment complex are among her biggest concerns, Diallo said.

At Shaffer Village, located in Riverside, critics point to boarded-up units and broken windows, mold accumulating in bathrooms and deteriorating floors. The resident council has written several letters to Sanders, asking her to act as soon as possible.

“We’ve been voicing it more. I don’t know what the problem is that we have been overlooked,” said resident Zaneta Taylor, 25.

At Marine Drive, the tenant association president said there are unresolved security and management issues that have been going on for about two years, mainly because of what they call Sanders’ ineffectiveness.

“I don’t believe she knows how to handle things,” Harris said. “Dawn and the rest of them have overlooked us. They put you on hold and never call you back.”

In a general response to such criticisms, Sanders explained that she came on board in May 2007 and immediately had to face pre-existing issues.

Among her first duties was to clean up the authority’s image, she said. In December 2005, a report by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development harshly criticized the previous board of commissioners for, among other things, spending lavishly on themselves, micro-managing and intimidating staff.

HUD also mandated that all housing authorities convert from a centralized management system to site-based management in which each complex operates as a separate property with its own budget and management. Sanders had only a few months to spearhead the conversion.

“I didn’t come in here with a team,” she said. “To manage these things at one time, and still handle the daily operations, it’s a multiple job.”

Sanders, whose current contract includes a $97,760 salary and Housing Authority car, also has her supporters among tenants as well as among board members.

At Jasper Parrish, off Hertel Avenue near Military Road, Tashiana Jarrett remembers when old, leaky roofs caused water bubbles to form in bathroom ceilings and allowed rainwater to seep into the light fixtures. But before last winter set in, the authority redid the roofs, and units are set for new bathrooms next month, she said.

“They fixed things. For the most part, it’s much better,” said Jarrett.

Emily Robinson, president of the tenant council at Kenfield/Langfield Homes, said Sanders has been doing “an excellent job.”

Much of her enthusiasm comes from authority commissioners having voted in January to contract with the Council for management of the Martha Mitchell Center on Oakmont Avenue. Programming there ranges from computer training and resume writing to after school tutoring.

“She has been working with us 100 percent to make sure we got off on the right foot,” Robinson said.

Supporters also point to progress at Kensington Heights, a blighted, six-tower complex vacant since 1980. Demolition is scheduled to begin by late summer, and it will be turned into a three-building retirement community.

Backers also cite the new Buffalo Police Department Housing Unit that started last month, something residents had been demanding since the previous force was disbanded five years ago to save money. And, they said, Sanders went beyond federal requirements in the management conversion process. “I’m happy with the progress she’s made,” Seaman said. “She had some big tasks, and she delivered.”