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 Post subject: Re: Savages With Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8)
PostPosted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 11:30 pm 
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Enquirer analysis of 15 years of local and federal housing statistics shows the unequal relocation of poor families in Hamilton County, home to 60 percent of all Section 8 housing in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

The migration pattern helps explain an escalating rancor pitting homeowner against renter, city against suburb and East Side against West Side. It also shows why political pressures are pushing another housing shift - moving low-income housing into wealthier neighborhoods that have none.

The number of Section 8 vouchers in Hamilton County has doubled since 1994 to about 11,000 today, costing taxpayers $62 million last year alone.

• Chart: Section 8 by county
• Chart: Find details of subsidized housing in your neighborhood
• Q&A about Section 8
• West Side Story: What happened there
• Finneytown: Testing the housing shift
• Board change altered housing policies


But not all neighborhoods have felt the impact equally:



http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... /809140301

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 Post subject: Re: Savages With Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8)
PostPosted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 11:35 pm 
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Foreclosure crisis forces rental crisis



A typical, one-bedroom apartment now goes for $1,400 to $1,600, and two-bedroom apartments go for $1,600 to $2,000, Rodriguez said. Rent has increased by 5.6 percent in Salinas from 2007 to 2008, and the vacancy rate - the lowest in the nation - has dropped to 2.4 percent, down from 4.3 percent two years ago.


http://thecalifornian.com/apps/pbcs.dll ... 30313/1002

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 Post subject: Re: Savages With Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8)
PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:51 pm 
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Marlin E. “Bill” Jones filed the lawsuit against Platteview after the eviction. Jones said it was a defective and leaky toilet that caused the problems in his bathroom and seepage that caused the odor.

Jones sued the apartment after he was evicted in August 2004 and claims the owners of the apartments cost him his Section 8 government housing allowance and left him living in his car.

Midstates Development, the owner of the Platteview Apartments, believed differently. Officials there said Jones had a “housekeeping problem” that resulted from his urinating on the floor, the toilet, the walls and the bathtub of the apartment.

Midstates, located in Sioux City, Iowa, evicted Jones from the apartment after verbal then written warnings did no good and even probation failed.

An attorney for Midstates, Jonathan J. Blum of Omaha, told the jury that the case was really very simple and all came down to credibility – who they believed.

“The facts will show that Mr. Jones just couldn’t keep a clean bathroom,” Blum said. “He was given four written notices and put on probation but the problem kept coming back.”

Blum said the apartment’s on-site managers found urine on the floor and walls and bathtub of the apartment and that there a “terrible odor that hit you in the face.”

Jones said that their claims are false, slanderous and libelous. He said their statements and their eviction of him cost him his Section 8 government housing allowance and left him homeless.

Jones, 82 and who never studied the law, argued his case himself throughout the jury trial in Lincoln County District Court. He said he was on a fixed income and not able to hire an attorney.

Jones was unhappy with the verdict.

“It was an absolute travesty of justice,” Jones said. “It is unbelievable that a jury could declare my evidence totally unbelievable and believe that the testimony of defendants Terry Burns and Jeanne Hinrich was true.”

Jones said he believes that Lincoln County District Judge Donald Rowlands was prejudiced against him.

Rowlands had dismissed Jones’ case in an earlier hearing and Jones appealed. The Nebraska Court of Appeals overturned Rowlands dismissal and he reinstated the case.

Since then and because the case was reinstated, Jones believes Rowlands treated him unfairly. Jones even asked Rowlands to recuse himself but he refused.

“Even though it was a jury trial, Judge Rowlands still had absolute control over the case and what the jury was allowed to hear,” Jones said. “Obviously he didn’t want the jury to know about his prejudice.”

“But throughout the trial, the jury did not know that Judge Rowlands was in collusion with Blum,” Jones said. He said Rowlands would not allow private investigator Jon McNeel to testify or to present his video recordings in his apartment but the judge allowed other photographs from the defense into evidence.

Jones said he did the best he could but believes the jury was overwhelmed by Blum in his closing remarks.

Two of the jurors spoke to the Bulletin on the condition of anonymity. They both said they simply didn't believe the toilet was faulty.

"We just thought he was a bad shot," one juror said.




The lawsuit

Jones filed the lawsuit in 2004.

Jones was seeking $250,000 in damages from the apartment complex, the development company that owns it and a contractor that maintains it.

In the lawsuit, Jones said he suffered “extreme abuse” while living at Platteview Apartments since shortly after his arrival there Nov. 13, 2002.

The lawsuit said Jones suffered “humiliation, intimidation, retaliation, conspiratorial acts, defamation of his character, filing of false evidence, intentional damage and deprivation of his right to organize on behalf of tenants causing reprisal against him.”

Jones says, in the suit, that he was only trying to reside in peace and comfort as a qualified tenant under the low-income housing provided by the office of Housing and Urban Development.

Jones says, in the suit, that he notified the apartment manager that the toilet in his apartment was defective.

Burns testified Tuesday that the only repair they had to do to the toilet after Jones was evicted was “tighten the bolts.”

The lawsuit said Jones attempted to organize the tenants and had 23 signatures on a petition complaining about the management and maintenance.

At a meeting Feb. 8, 2004, the suit said Burns told the tenants he “would not fire manager Jeanne Hinrich” and told the group the company “had plenty of money.”

Burns characterized the meeting as “lots of commotion and verbal altercations.”

As a result of Burns’ threats and intimidation, the suit says, petitioners asked Jones to take their names off the list “for fear of further reprisals such as losing their homes.”

But Burns testified that Midstates welcomed tenant associations and that he downloaded HUD guidelines for tenant organizations for the group.

“We encouraged them,” Burns said.

The lawsuit says Hinrich conspired with Snell Services to then enter Jones’ apartment without his knowledge and “fabricated a report … used as ground for eviction.”

The lawsuit said the entry was a violation of the Landlord Tenant Act and state law since the apartment complex did not provide a 24-hour notice.

According to the suit, Jones sought the opinion of two qualified local plumbers who both recommended replacing the toilet and City Code Enforcement Officer Dave Hahn, who cited Platteview Apartments.

Hahn testified Tuesday.

Jones first tried to have Rowlands appoint another judge to hear the case in 2005 but Rowlands declined. He has repeatedly asked Judge Rowlands to recuse himself from the case but Rowlands has refused.

http://www.northplattebulletin.com/inde ... 0&pageID=3

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 Post subject: Re: Savages With Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8)
PostPosted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 3:59 pm 
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It isn't just the po' folks. It's also the folks we trust with our tax money.
The TIMES wrote:
Former Child Protective Services worker convicted of faking overtime, mileage

By Times Staff | Wednesday, September 17, 2008
CROWN POINT | A former Child Protective Services employee was convicted Wednesday of misdemeanor official misconduct for falsifying mileage and overtime claims, according to the Lake County prosecutor's office.

Tannette Kinnon was convicted of the charge after a Lake Criminal Court jury deliberated about one hour. She was acquitted of a felony theft charge.

Authorities discovered the more than $17,100 that Kinnon was paid in overtime between July 1, 2004, and Sept. 30, 2006 -- for trips to Fort Wayne, Indianapolis and other Indiana cities -- wasn't earned because she never made the trips, according to a probable cause affidavit in the case.

Kinnon's duties for the Gary office of the Family and Social Services Administration were to transport children at case managers' requests.

Kinnon also submitted vouchers for 104,349 miles, but the odometer on her car read 65,771, the report states. Investigators determined she was overpaid $13,153 for mileage, the report states.

Kinnon faces a maximum term of one year in prison when she is sentenced Oct. 9.

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 Post subject: Re: Savages With Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8)
PostPosted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 4:04 pm 
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and that's what it's all about

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 Post subject: Re: Savages With Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8)
PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 1:07 pm 
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LoisLane wrote:
It isn't just the po' folks. It's also the folks we trust with our tax money.
The TIMES wrote:
Former Child Protective Services worker convicted of faking overtime, mileage

By Times Staff | Wednesday, September 17, 2008
CROWN POINT | A former Child Protective Services employee was convicted Wednesday of misdemeanor official misconduct for falsifying mileage and overtime claims, according to the Lake County prosecutor's office.

Tannette Kinnon was convicted of the charge after a Lake Criminal Court jury deliberated about one hour. She was acquitted of a felony theft charge.

Authorities discovered the more than $17,100 that Kinnon was paid in overtime between July 1, 2004, and Sept. 30, 2006 -- for trips to Fort Wayne, Indianapolis and other Indiana cities -- wasn't earned because she never made the trips, according to a probable cause affidavit in the case.

Kinnon's duties for the Gary office of the Family and Social Services Administration were to transport children at case managers' requests.

Kinnon also submitted vouchers for 104,349 miles, but the odometer on her car read 65,771, the report states. Investigators determined she was overpaid $13,153 for mileage, the report states.

Kinnon faces a maximum term of one year in prison when she is sentenced Oct. 9.



They also steal from their clients I bet for a reduced sentence she could rat the whole agency out.

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 Post subject: Re: Savages With Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8)
PostPosted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 5:07 pm 
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Section 8 discrimination remains a widespread problem, housing advocates, tenant lawyers and voucher holders say. Renters are routinely turned away by landlords who refuse to accept the vouchers, and apartment listings continue to discourage Section 8 tenants from seeking advertised units with phrases like “No Section 8” and “No programs,” supporters of the law said.

Dilcia Escano tells what housing advocates assert is a common story. Ms. Escano, 34, a single mother and pharmacy worker who lives in Washington Heights with her three children, said her landlord and the landlord’s representatives refused to take her voucher before the law passed and then refused to take it afterward.

“He said, ‘No, we don’t recognize that,’” Ms. Escano said her landlord told her. “I thought, all is lost.”

The nonprofit Fair Housing Justice Center released a report this month that found that on one day in July on the Web site www.craigslist.org, there were 1,543 apartment listings posted by landlords and real estate brokers that discriminated against renters who receive government subsidies.

“If this ad said ‘No blacks allowed’ or ‘No Catholics allowed,’ there would rightfully be a huge uproar,” said City Councilman Bill de Blasio, a Brooklyn Democrat who introduced the bill that became the law. “Effectively what they’re doing is illegal, and it has to stop.”

The law prohibits landlords from discriminating against tenants based on their use of Section 8 vouchers or any other form of local, state or federal government assistance. It amended the city’s Human Rights Law by adding a person’s “lawful source of income” to the list of protected classes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/20/nyreg ... ng.html?em

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 Post subject: Re: Savages With Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8)
PostPosted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 5:26 pm 
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Low-Income Housing: Another Crisis Looming?


Another housing crisis may be looming even as the mortgage meltdown continues and as Americans who once dreamed of home ownership see their properties foreclosed. The Housing Act of 1937, imposed in the wake of the Great Depression, and amended a number of times in the 1970s, is reaching a crossroads — and close to five million Americans who depend on subsidized public housing may soon have to figure out where and how they are going to live.

That's because under the provisions of Section 8 of the historic law a significant change will be under way in the next few years. As a result, building owners who participate in the program — receiving subsidies from the Department of Housing and Urban Development in exchange for taking in lower-income renters — will be able to opt out of those contracts. And many are thinking of doing just that. America's two largest cities, New York and Los Angeles, will be severely affected as will many smaller communities.

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as many as 13,000 Section 8 contracts will expire by 2013, meaning 800,000 privately owned buildings could potentially be put up for sale or have the rents on their apartments raised to full market rates. Michael Bodaken, executive director of the National Housing Trust says about 1.5 million apartments housing between three and five million people will be affected. "Generally it's bad for cities to the extent that they lose the needed mixed income and affordable housing resource that is difficult to replace," says Bodaken, whose non-profit group advocates for people who live in subsidized homes.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article ... html?imw=Y

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 Post subject: Re: Savages With Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8)
PostPosted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 4:02 pm 
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Buried in the complex language of Prop 6 are provisions that take aim at tenants with Section 8 vouchers, as well as other provisions that target tenants who live at properties where the government undertakes anti-gang enforcement efforts.

Annual Background Checks on Subsidized Tenants

Among other new expenditures, Prop. 6 would establish a new “Safe Neighborhoods Compliance Enforcement Fund” and appropriate $10 million annually for this fund. In order to be eligible to receive money from this fund, local housing agencies would need to run annual criminal background checks on all Section 8 tenants.

Although the Legislative Analyst claims that this relates to “public housing,” the text of the measure says otherwise, requiring that agencies seeking these funds perform annual background checks on any tenants assisted by Section 8 vouchers. The voucher program subsidizes the rent of very low-income households renting from private landlords.

The decision to use scarce government resources to subject Section 8 tenants to annual background checks cannot be justified. Annual background checks would create a witch-hunt atmosphere, drain scarce public resources and do nothing to promote “safe neighborhoods.”

Tenants in the Section 8 program already must pass a criminal background check when they apply for the program. Once the tenancy begins, Section 8 tenants are subject to strict criminal activity eviction provisions. With respect to drug offenses in particular, the eviction provisions are extremely broad, providing that “any drug-related criminal activity on or near such premises, engaged in by a tenant of any unit, any member of the tenant's household, or any guest or other person under the tenant's control, shall be cause for termination of tenancy.”

To make matters worse, Prop 6 would provide only part of the funding necessary for local housing authorities to run the required annual background checks, leaving local housing authorities to pay the rest of the bill. This would be extremely costly for local housing authorities and would divert resources from other critical housing needs.


http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=6110

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