Northwest Indiana Discussion

Woman gets one year for Section 8 fraud



VICTORVILLE — The first local resident convicted by a jury of Section 8 housing fraud received a one-year sentence Wednesday, despite facing a possible five years and four months in state prison.


Dennia Margaret Johnson, 47, was convicted in June of two counts of obtaining aid by false representation and one count of perjury for lying on her application for Section 8, the low-income government housing provided to those in need.


At issue in Johnson’s trial was her son, who she claimed was living with her but was attending school in the San Diego area, and another man living in her Section 8 house that was a registered sex offender.


Several other defendants that were rounded up in Section 8 housing sweeps have reached plea agreements, pleading guilty to falsely obtaining aid, since a multi-agency effort began in 2006 to crack down on the problem.


Sentences of those who have accepted convictions range from probation and paying restitution to 150-day jail sentences.


Victorville Superior Court Judge Eric Nakata gave Johnson a one-year sentence in county jail, but warned her not to violate her five-year probation.


Nakata’s sentence was still higher that the 270-day sentence recommended by probation, but far less than the possible maximum sentence.



http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/sectio ... woman.html

Housing Authority is about jobs, as well


July 24,

There's no shortage of ideas about what Gary needs. The wish list includes such items as a grandiose downtown development, more police on the streets, a new runway at the airport and new schools.
Underscoring all the plans should be a simple realization that the citizens of Gary need jobs, and they need them now.

In case anyone harbors a misconception that Gary residents aren't interested in working, take a look at the turnout for a recent job fair held by the Gary Housing Authority. Hundreds of residents arrived at the Genesis Center with resumes in hand, hoping to secure a job.

The jobs ranged from skilled work to management. About 300 people are expected to be hired, far fewer than the number of folks at the job fair.

The Gary Housing Authority is preparing to demolish and renovate hundreds of units in the Ivanhoe, Delaney, Dorie Miller and Colonial Gardens housing centers. Ivanhoe has been closed since 2007, but the housing units remain and likely will be demolished.

Contractors working for the GHA must hire Gary residents to do much of the work, according to guidelines laid out by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Gary is using about $9 million in federal grant money to renovate 300 housing units. The GHA would like to demolish about 650 units, but it still needs HUD approval for the job. There are about 2,000 units in the GHA, and about 75 percent are occupied.

The program holds great benefit for Gary residents who want to better themselves. They have the chance to learn skills that can lead to other jobs, and they'll make important contacts to continue to find employment.

Jobs are the best elixir to cure many of Gary's ills. This project is a step in the right direction.

http://www.post-trib.com/news/opinion/1 ... it.article

Word from the streets: The hardest hit

But those lucky enough to make it off the long waitlist face a new problem: a broken system. The Section 8 program is mired in mismanagement, poor client services and inconsistent policies. It is impossible to get through to a live body on the customer service line; voucher holders risk being thrown out on the street while they wait for an appointment to get a signature on a change of dwelling document; others have lost vouchers because of minor technicalities; many landlords complain they do not receive timely rent subsidies from the local housing authority, while others benefit from the poorly run system by renting units that are in poor condition to voucher holders. The list of problems almost exceeds the waitlist itself.

To supposedly find a solution, Miami- Dade County is falling in lock step with national trends. They are pushing to privatize Section 8. It seems to make sense, it seems responsible, it seems accountable even. But there is a slight of hand going on here. By handing the management of Section 8 over to a private company, we are asking the fox to guard the hen house. With privatization we will see less public oversight of the program that is so needed by the public.

If we look at the legacy of privatization we see a shady trail of corruption, deception and exploitation. From the debacle of Scott Carver Homes where public money was handed to private contractors who took the money and ran without building homes, to private contractors in the Gulf Coast (including South Florida’s own Carnival Cruise Lines) who were condemned by a federal investigation as profiteers after they were found exploiting government contracts during Hurricane Katrina and Rita relief. If we look at the headlines we can see the poster child of the private interest put above public good and smart policy: the mortgage crisis.


http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?optio ... Itemid=188

Homeowner rescue awaits President Bush's signature



WASHINGTON---- Congress approved mortgage relief for 400,000 struggling homeowners Saturday as part of an election-year housing plan that also aims to calm jittery financial markets and bolster the sagging economy. President Bush said he would sign it promptly, despite reservations.

The measure, regarded as the most significant housing legislation in decades, lets homeowners who cannot afford their payments refinance into more affordable government-backed loans rather than losing their homes.

http://www.suntimes.com/business/107696 ... 08.article


i·ro·ny (r-n, r-)
n. pl. i·ro·nies
1.

a. The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.

b. An expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning.

c. A literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effect. See Synonyms at wit1.
2.

a. Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs: "Hyde noted the irony of Ireland's copying the nation she most hated" Richard Kain.

b. An occurrence, result, or circumstance notable for such incongruity. See Usage Note at ironic.

3. Dramatic irony.

4. Socratic irony.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[French ironie, from Old French, from Latin rna, from Greek eirneia, feigned ignorance, from eirn, dissembler, probably from eirein, to say; see wer-5 in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
irony
Noun
pl -nies

1. the mildly sarcastic use of words to imply the opposite of what they normally mean

2. a situation or result that is the direct opposite of what was expected or intended [Greek eirōneia]

Collins Essential English Dictionary 2nd Edition 2006 © HarperCollins Publishers 2004, 2006

ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms

Noun 1. irony - witty language used to convey insults or scorn; "he used sarcasm to upset his opponent"; "irony is wasted on the stupid"; "Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own"--Jonathan Swift
caustic remark, sarcasm, satire

humor, wit, witticism, wittiness, humour - a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter

2. irony - incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs; "the irony of Ireland's copying the nation she most hated"

incongruity, incongruousness - the quality of disagreeing; being unsuitable and inappropriate
Socratic irony - admission of your own ignorance and willingness to learn while exposing someone's inconsistencies by close questioning

3. irony - a trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs
antiphrasis - the use of a word in a sense opposite to its normal sense (especially in irony)
dramatic irony - (theater) irony that occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play

figure of speech, trope, image, figure - language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense
indeed - (used as an interjection) an expression of surprise or skepticism or irony etc.; "Wants to marry the butler? Indeed!"

Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2008 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
irony
noun 1. sarcasm, mockery, ridicule, bitterness, scorn, satire, cynicism, derision, causticity, mordancy
noun 2. paradox, ambiguity, absurdity, incongruity, contrariness
Collins Essential Thesaurus 2nd Edition 2006 © HarperCollins Publishers 2005, 2006

Housing agency still struggles

Since 2001, the Wicomico County Housing Authority has been labeled "troubled" by the federal government. That's not news. In the last seven years, the WCHA has struggled to improve both its financial accounting and the physical upkeep of the 277 public housing units and 383 housing choice vouchers (formerly known as Section eight) under its jurisdiction. While the federal Department of Housing And Urban Development has had the authority to take over WCHA's operations 18 months after it was designated troubled, that hasn't happened. Now the WCHA is seeking bids for a "team of specialists" with training in finance and management to act as a consultant to help guide recovery efforts.

http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... newsfront2

City buried in rentals


In a recent presentation to the Port Huron City Council meeting, city Planning Director Kim Harmer said data from the 2000 census shows 43% of the about 13,000 occupied houses in Port Huron were filled with renters. Officials estimate that number now likely is closer to 50% as a slumped economy and increasing mortgage payments push people out of home ownership and landlords buy and convert the vacant houses into rental units.

http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs ... /808010304

Section 8 leaves poor unmoved

Fighting the problem

In their efforts to end the concentrations of poverty on Fort Wayne’s southeast side, Fort Wayne Housing Authorities cannot steer people toward or away from neighborhoods, but the authority can influence clients’ decisions:

• When clients get a voucher for rent, they are counseled on where they can live and are urged to consider locations relative to jobs, school, recreation and opportunities that might not exist in troubled neighborhoods.

• The authority uses http://www.fortwaynehousingnow.org to show clients what rental units are available in areas outside the inner city.

• The authority encourages clients to think about opportunities and quality of life their children might miss if they stay in poor neighborhoods.



http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs ... /808030414

Blame the landlord, not Section 8


an administrator of a Section 8 Program in Wayne County, and as a landlord, I would like to offer Mr. Vasilios Karagiannis suggestions to his issues with the Section 8 program (July 25 letter).

First and foremost, any landlord has the right to check references on a prospective tenant, and I would highly suggest that. This will ensure that you are renting to good people who just need assistance with rent.

Not every person who receives Section 8 is a bad tenant, as not every renter, regardless of who is paying the rent, is a good tenant. However, this responsibility lies with the landlord, not with the administrator of the program. Do your homework.

http://www.syracuse.com/opinion/index.s ... xml&coll=1

Tod Robberson: Housing the poor alongside the rich


The migration of poor people from urban ghettos is not new, even though the surge in suburban crime is relatively recent, they said. Poor people began migrating by the millions in the 1970s.

Certainly, some of the increase in suburban crime can be linked to that migration. But there is no more than anecdotal evidence linking it to subsidized housing – especially considering that subsidy recipients accounted for only a small percentage of the total migration, said Dr. Timothy M. Bray, director of the Institute for Urban Policy Research at the University of Texas at Dallas.

The Atlantic article focused particularly on recipients of Section 8 housing vouchers. The program is designed to break up pockets of poverty by allowing poor families to live wherever a landlord will accept Section 8 vouchers as part of the rent payment. More than 1.8 million households nationwide benefit from the vouchers.

How is this migration reflected in Dallas? Minimally. Urban planners I've interviewed say Dallas remains one of the most segregated and economically divided cities in America.

"We have pockets of poverty in the northern sector, but they're not nearly amassed to the extent that they are in the southern sector," Dr. Bray said. "An individual neighborhood that's in bad shape can benefit from its neighbors that are not. But southern-sector residents very often don't have that. Their neighbors are as poor as they are."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 9eba4.html

Ex-Paterson housing official pleads guilty


NEWARK, N.J. - A former high-ranking Paterson housing official has pleaded guilty to taking thousands of dollars in bribes.

Federal prosecutors say 44-year-old Benny Ramos took the money from a real estate manager to guarantee trouble-free inspections of properties rented to low-income tenants.

Ramos, a Clifton resident, was deputy director of Paterson's Section 8 housing program.

He was arrested in March 2007 in a federal sting operation.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ ... 3579.story

"The police are there," Silvestri said, adding that, "90 percent of the people playing there are from the neighborhood."

Maria Labable asked if Section 8 housing - a federal rent subsidy program for low-income people - could be stopped.

Silvestri said the village has no control over a federal program and that the village has relatively few Section 8 tenants anyway.

Silvestri said Monday's board meeting had the largest attendence he's seen in the last 10 years




http://www.pioneerlocal.com/elmwoodpark ... s1.article

Anyone not attending will be fined.”

That threat, it turns out, will be the first of several.

During the meeting, South Delta staff member Angela Brady tells the homeowners she'll be inspecting their property inside and out. If she finds any unresolved problems, she says, South Delta will fix them - and then send the homeowner the bill.

Jefferson takes it one step further, threatening to kick out homeowners who don't meet South Delta's maintenance standards.

But what gets to the woman near the front of the room is Jefferson's call for the homeowners to maintain not only their own property, but their entire neighborhood

http://www.ddtonline.com/articles/2008/ ... /news1.txt

http://www.dailylocal.com/site/news.cfm ... 7785&rfi=6

http://www.dailylocal.com/site/news.cfm ... 7785&rfi=6

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-subm ... 1960.story


http://socialistworker.org/2008/09/12/s ... -york-city

http://www.wickedlocal.com/hingham/news ... Apartments

http://www.nj.com/opinion/jjournal/edit ... xml&coll=3