Northwest Indiana Discussion

A THINK TANK WEIGHS IN



No comprehensive study on the pros and cons of mixed-income developments has been completed. But the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Institute -- established in 1968 by the Lyndon Johnson administration to study the effects of Great Society initiatives -- has researched the effects of Hope VI, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development program that helps cities replace housing projects with mixed-income communities.

Among the findings reported in various studies:

- Based on a comparison of monetary and non-monetary costs of maintaining distressed public housing projects versus revitalizing them, redevelopment leads not only to improvements in families' living conditions, physical and mental health and employment status but also can trigger revitalization of blighted areas and save taxpayers $20 million over 20 years.

- Residents who left the projects wound up in dramatically safer neighborhoods, significantly improving their quality of life.

- Most displaced residents have taken Section 8 vouchers. Many voucher holders are struggling with the financial challenges of existing in the private market, such as paying rent on time and keeping up with utility bills.

- A study tracking residents from five sites where redevelopment began in 2001 found that uprooted children are now thriving and succeeding at school.

- There's no hard evidence to support critics' claims that displaced residents are at a high risk for homelessness.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/07 ... 4685.shtml

Housing, the Subprime Mortgage Crisis and the Enduring Resilience of the U.S. Economy



Mayor Daley pulling down the Robert Taylor high-rises his father had built a generation or so before. (The late Mayor Daley, incidentally, wanted to build low-rise housing instead, because he foresaw that the high-rises would be a bad place to raise children; he couldn't get enough money from the feds to do so.) Since the late 1960s or early 1970s, government has been placing public housing-eligible households in scattered rentals throughout metro areas through the Section 8 program. But Section 8 seems to have had a dreadful effect: increasing crime in here to fore low-crime areas, as Hanna Rosin reports in the summer Atlantic. Public housing advocates used to say that bad housing degraded its tenants; Rosin makes it plain that something like the opposite is the case, that bad tenants degrade housing and neighborhoods.


http://www.usnews.com/blogs/barone/2008 ... onomy.html

Community Action for Safe Apartments watching for corporate landlords

The Bronx real estate market is hot, but instead of worrying about gentrification, tenant advocates fear that private equity firms snapping up apartment buildings may become a new breed of slumlord.

Community Action for Safe Apartments is working with tenants in 19 of the estimated 277 buildings in the borough bought in recent years by private-equity-backed developers like Pinnacle, SG2, Ocelot, Normandy and Urban American Management.

The concern is that the only way to squeeze the high returns demanded by private equity firms from rent-regulated units is to force existing tenants out and rent them at market rates.

Developers counter that the longterm profit prospects are also attractive.


http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bro ... wat-2.html

Tenants caught in middle of landlord-bank dispute

Two weeks ago, the township attempted to clean up the 188-home Lexington area, hauling out 15 tons of trash.

Some tenants blamed poor conditions on absentee landlords who are struggling financially and fail to fix their properties.

Cutano says her three-bedroom apartment has shoddy shelves, a broken bathroom mirror and rotted outside doors in the back. The mirror was broken, she said, before she moved in.

Another of Pinizzotto's tenants, Lisa Privitera, 57, said last month that she keeps a big blue bowl in her kitchen, positioning it carefully so that it catches the water dripping from the bathroom upstairs.

Privitera said that when she called the maintenance man the landlord hired, she was told "nothing can be done" because "all of the apartments are that way."

Pinizzotto called the complaints by his tenants "ridiculous."

"I find it offensive when these people make these ridiculous accusations," he said, adding that Barnegat inspects properties and would not allow tenants to live with broken mirrors, ripped screens or leaky pipes.

"There's no way Barnegat Township would pass that. They are very strict about the condition of these properties," Pinizzotto said.

"Why would she (Cutano) move into a property with a broken mirror if she has children?" Pinizzotto asked. "The truth is, she broke it. She doesn't want to take responsibility, and she's trying to blame it on me."

Township Manager David Breeden said the town would not permit tenants to move into an apartment with "life-threatening" situations.

Township Committeeman Al Cirulli said last month that there are times when apartments change tenants and the township is unaware when new tenants move in.

Breeden says the township acts on complaints, but that many tenants who are receiving public assistance are afraid to complain about conditions.



http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... 80383/1070

THE LAWSON FILE: BOOK EM DANNO


Millions of hard working and low income Americans are victims of their landlords. Virtually anyone who has ever been a renter has a horror story or two to tell. Legal remedies are usually too time consuming or expensive to be useful. Landlords have all the power.

It's a drag.

Some folks find a way to get organized and those folks are usually the ones most successful in dealing with slumlords be they in huge cities or small college towns.

One such organization is the Shalom Tenants Alliance. The Alliance came together in earnest in July 2003 with the launch of a website which has helped put numerous tenants in touch with the Alliance and helped Shalom tenants realize they were not alone.

The alliance is a coalition of residents of more than 90 different New York City apartment buildings owned and/or managed by the Shalom family, a.k.a. Ohebshalom, which includes Jon Shalom, Ben Shalom, Fred Ohebshalom, David Ohebshalom, Nader Ohebshalom and others. Operating under various corporate names, including Sky Management, Empire Management, Gatsby and Keystone, the Shaloms buy rent-stabilized buildings and then systematically dismantle required building services (Warranty of Habitability) and attempt to force out legal residents through harassment, intimidation, negligence and deception.

Today Shalom tenants took to the street in support of one of their own. A tenant of 244 West 72 Street came home one day recently and found his possessions tossed out by management and his four cats missing a week before the expiration of his lease.

You ask yourself how can this happen?

It happens because it is allowed to happen.

It happens because in our land private property is more important than human beings.

Slumlords don't give in easily. They fight often harder than we do.

We turn again to the family Shalom.

Jon and Ben Shalom of Sky Management (so many companies, so many names) decided to get revenge on their tenants who had just won lawsuit against them. Eight Saint Mark’s Place Tenants Association tells the story:

On Saturday, November 3, 2007, the New York Fire Department (FDNY) answered a 9-1-1 emergency call from 8 Saint Mark’s Place in the East Village.

The caller alleged that boiler exhaust fumes were entering the apartment. First fumes were noticed on Friday, November 2, 2007. On Saturday the condition worsened and one tenant who began suffering from headaches and nausea called the management company and the building super who were both unresponsive. The tenant then proceeded to call 9-1-1.

It was discovered that on Wednesday, October 31, 2007, the owners Jon and Ben Shalom of Sky Management had hired a roofing company to cap all eight chimneys in the building, including one active chimney functioning as the boiler’s ventilation system.

People could have died here. What did the fire department do? After removing the cap, they let them off the hook with just another violation order.

Tough stuff.

Now the talk in ye olde Democratic debate about Obama and a Chicago slumlord is all fine and dandy. But what the talk needs to be about is doing something to protect tenants and whole neighborhoods from them. Slumlords are vile criminals whose only aim is greed. They should be treated as such.

I ran across a petition out in California put together by a guy who had had enough. I liked some of his proposals which included:

"...instead of extremely low fines such as a $49.00 dollar fine for not complying with the law for a year that a fine of $50,000.00 and five years in prison for allowing health and safety conditions to lapse what so ever! To hold the Slum Lord fully accountable for all and any sicknesses or illnesses related from asbestos problems to unsanitary conditions inside their buildings besides the fines and jail sentences..."


http://oreaddaily.blogspot.com/2008_01_27_archive.html

Tracy White, 39, a former Section 8 program director with the Irvington Housing Authority, and her sister Ninetta White, 37, of Irvington, a New Jersey parole officer, were arrested at their homes Wednesday by special agents with the FBI, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation.

The sisters were charged in a one-count criminal complaint that accuses them of embezzling government funds valued at more than $5,000.

Both women entered pleas of not guilty in federal court Wednesday, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Hope Olds. U.S. Magistrate Judge Claire C. Cecchi released the defendants on $100,000 unsecured bonds pending trial.

http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 005/NEWS01

3. Miller, Gary (CA)/Chabot (OH): #13:

The amendment will impose a 7-year time limit on participation in the Section 8 program. The amendment excludes the elderly and disabled from this requirement. In addition, the amendment provides for a hardship exception.

http://www.rules.house.gov/SpecialRules ... ewsID=2727

) H.Amdt. 495 by Rep. Miller [R-CA]

Amendment sought to impose a 7-year time limit on participation in the section 8 program with exemptions for the elderly and disabled, and families in a hardship situation.
Proposed: Jul 12, 2007. Rejected: Jul 12, 2007.

An amendment numbered 3 printed in House Report 110-227 to impose a 7-year time limit on participation in the Section 8 program. The amendment excludes the elderly and disabled from this requirement. In addition, the amendment provides for a hardship exception.
Jul 12, 2007. On agreeing to the Miller, Gary amendment (A003) Failed by recorded vote: 151 - 267 (Roll no. 625).

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xp ... amendments

Self-sufficiency plan

In Springfield, changes included calling the Section 8 program the “private landlord program” and using a family self-sufficiency program to bring about changes in the behavior of people in public housing.

Logan said the program encourages families to attain the skills necessary to get off public housing, welfare, food stamps, etc.

Housing authority staff talks about issues at regular meetings and “works diligently” with families, such as regarding employment, transportation, health and babysitting needs.

Logan said a strategic plan then is put in place for the family to get off public housing in five years, for example.

The program also allows that as a person receives a pay raise, the rent also increases, but that increased amount goes into an escrow account for later.

Logan said the money then is made available when the family graduates from the program and is off welfare or other assistance for a year.

“This is what we’re working for,” he said of housing authorities helping families get back on their feet. They’re not for generations of families to rely on.

Logan said “putting some families in a box” and not doing anything isn’t the answer for pubic housing to move forward. Housing authorities and others must look at the problems and make families believe in the success stories.

Dialogue participants said this program should be started here.

Fred Cowen, Young Men Aware program coordinator, said not all public housing recipients should be grouped together in the same category. Some desire to better their lives and need mentoring and an opportunity to help lift them up.

“If we reach one, we’ve accomplished something,” he said.



Recommendations



Other recommendations included: educate and communicate more with the public on programs and needs, extend public transportation hours, have more affordable childcare, expand on literacy programs and offer more help in job searches. The recommendations will be put into a report.

Locally, perceptions have focused on the migration of Chicago public housing recipients into Central Illinois and increasing crime and demands on social agencies, schools, medical facilities and other services.

But Logan pointed out the DHA public housing program puts more than $2 million back into Danville’s economy.

Still, Mayor Scott Eisenhauer said the city needs everyone’s help “in resolving this crisis.”

“I believe our city is at a crossroads,” Eisenhauer said.

He favors reducing the number of Section 8 vouchers and hundreds of those locally receiving housing assistance. The DHA controls less than 30 percent of the vouchers here.

He compares the city to balancing a boat and says if there continues to be too many people needing the city’s limited services and resources, “we’re going to sink.”

Eisenhauer added the recommendation of the city working more with the DHA and landlords will happen.

He plans to treat the DHA like a city department and have regular meetings.

Boys and Girls Club of Danville executive director Rickey Williams Jr. said action now needs to take place to make sure Thursday’s meeting wasn’t a waste of time.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Executive Director Rose Henton added that residents can just take one part of the recommendations to help kids in the neighborhood or teach adults to read at the community college.

ECICAA officials planned Thursday’s dialogue with the DHA, city and other organizations to evaluate the effects here of Section 8 and public housing programs.

About 240 people from various organizations were invited to attend.

Fred Whitman, associate director of planning and community services at ECICAA, said the meeting was to present and share ideas about public housing and talk about various community impacts and family needs. The meeting also tried to correct misinformation and wrong public perceptions.

“The whole idea is to try to educate ourselves,” he said.

Among those present at Thursday’s meeting were representatives from faith-based organizations, businesses, schools, the city and library, county, DHA and other organizations.




http://www.commercial-news.com/local/lo ... 11146.html

Former NYC employee accused of housing fraud



7/11/2008, 2:32 a.m. EDT
The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A former New York City housing supervisor has been arrested on charges that she took bribes of $5,000 to $6,000 for rent subsidy vouchers.

The former employee, Joba Cortorreal (Cor-to-re-ALL), is accused of illegally selling the documents known as Section 8 rent vouchers to 16 people from 2003 to 2006.

Cortorreal is a former supervisor at the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development. She has been charged with receiving bribes and falsifying records.


http://www.silive.com/newsflash/index.s ... st=simetro

Here is how Northwest Indiana's congressional delegation -- Reps. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., and Joe Donnelly, D-Ind. -- voted July 4 to 10.

Housing Assistance for Veterans: The House passed a bill (H.R. 3329) that would create a $200 million program to provide 20,000 vouchers of housing assistance for low-income veterans. The vote was 412 yeas to 9 nays, with a two-thirds majority required for approval under a suspension of regular rules.

The Vets deserve it!

http://www.post-trib.com/news/1052437,votechart.article



Low-income military veterans would get extra housing help under a bill the House Financial Services Committee is expected to approve Tuesday.

The measure (HR 3329) calls for the government to make at least 20,000 rental housing vouchers a year available to homeless veterans.

It would authorize $200 million in fiscal 2008 for the programs through the Department of Housing and Urban Development. According to bill sponsor Al Green, D-Texas, the bill's 20,000 vouchers would cost about $150 million annually. The panel's Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity approved the measure by voice vote May 14.

The bill would also authorize HUD to offer grants to nonprofit organizations willing to increase their supply of affordable housing for veterans who earn less than 50 percent of their area's median income. The measure would also create a position within HUD to serve as a liaison to the Veterans Affairs Department.

According to the VA, more than 400,000 veterans are homeless at some point during the year.

FEMA will pay up to $1,188.00 per month for a two bedroom apartment. Payments will be made through March of 2009.

Landlords with available rental property, and FEMA applicants looking for housing, are encouraged to call the FEMA Louisiana Rental Resources Department at 1-888-294-2822. Representatives are available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., to assist callers with listing their available rentals or with locating affordable rentals.

http://7thspace.com/headlines/286600/la ... units.html

I see it is more than just me that is fed up. On a recent visit to an associates house that does not conform to normality I noticed the shape of her home and the surrounding properties
when I left under cover police followed me riding my bumper to try to spook me to give them reason to pull me over.

I immediately after getting home called the associate and she told me that she had two families living in her house and that both house on each side of her had been accused of doing illegal things out off them.

She then told me all 3 house got anonymous letters telling them they needed to go back where they came from and that they were fighting back and that their landlords would be hearing from them.

The associate told me her and her family had to move all because she allowed another family to move in with her.

She told me the other families 19 year old boy were on the roof off the house playing and the mother had too many men etc, etc etc and the neighbooor was doing also sorts of illegal crap.

They all have been evicited there not coming to stay with me.

According to the report, the Bush administration’s budget for fiscal year 2009 proposes deep cuts in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s affordable housing and community development programs.

It would leave the Public Housing Operating Fund underfunded by $1 billion and cut the Public Housing Capital Fund by 17 percent, the report said.

According to the report, the federal government subsidized an average of 98.2 percent of monies needed in the Public Housing Operating Fund between 1983 and 2002. The average subsidy for fiscal years 2003 through 2009 is only 87.6 of the need.

“We’re being shortchanged 18 percent of about $5 million. So that’s $700,000 to $800,000 that we are entitled to and should be receiving, but they’re claiming they don’t have enough money to give to us,” Fagula said.

Fagula said the board will soon have to consider raising flat rental rates for authority properties because of rising utility costs and federal underfunding. “We haven’t really raised our flat rents in public housing for years now. … Our rents are lower than most other authorities,” he said.

http://www.timesleader.com/news/County_ ... -2008.html