Aug 23 Tenant/Housing News

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Read All About It!

Tenant rebellion in Knoxville goes against the powers to be as they refuse to move from their beloved rental units that face demolition!

Alameda tenants vow to fight the slumlords trying to displace them!

Indiana officials target long-time Section 8 renters and claim that the program ws never meant to provide long term housing for them!

Public housing renters of Detroit are being abused while the PHA is in disaray!

Shelter program for the homeless has been shut down in Massachussettes!

Public housing residents being displaced in Punta Gorda!

Housing problems on the reservation for the Tulalip Tribes!

The latest batch of tenant/housing news comes in from Knoxville Tennesse, Alameda CA, Calumet City in Indiana, Detroit, Cook County Illinois, Rhode Island, Sonoma CA, Punta Gorda Fla, Yolo County CA, Massachusetts, Paltaka Fla, and Seattle Washington.

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Residents vow to fight demolition; KCDC set to tear down oldest section of Austin Homes
BY J.J. STAMBAUGH, stambaugh [at] knews.com
Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tennessee)
August 19, 2004


Some residents of the Austin Homes housing project in East Knoxville vowed Wednesday to fight the planned demolition of 150 apartments in the neighborhood's oldest section.

Officials from Knoxville's Community Development Corp. say the demolition may begin as early as Sept. 1 and KCDC's Board of Commissioners is planning to select a contractor next week from a pool of seven bidders.

But with some residents threatening to defy authorities by staying in their homes and a move afoot in City Council that could ultimately lead to a historic overlay over the property, the demolition project's future seemed very much in doubt Wednesday.

"We have some people who will be refusing to move," said Sarhonda Thompson, treasurer of the Austin Homes Residents' Association. "We're also hoping that a resolution for historic zoning will be passed."

The deadline for Austin Homes residents to move from their homes expired Monday but 24 people comprising 15 households had still not moved as of Wednesday, according to Billie Spicuzza, KCDC's vice president of housing.

KCDC was awarded a $1,284,000 demolition grant in June from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to destroy the 150 apartments in the older section of Austin Homes. Residents were given 90-day notices, Spicuzza said.

According to KCDC officials, the costs of keeping up the old section of Austin Homes are prohibitive. They plan to tear down all the buildings in the contested section and turn the land into a greenspace.

"It is costing more to operate Austin Homes than we are receiving in revenue from either HUD or rent," Spicuzza said.

The resident's association, however, has argued that the buildings are structurally sound and could be preserved. They also resent being displaced and believe a vital part of the city's history will be lost if the old section of Austin Homes is destroyed.

"The Austin Homes Housing Community was established in 1941, making it over 60 years old and one of Knoxville's first African-American neighborhoods," according to a report prepared by the residents' association. "It has been home for hundreds of families and serves for many as a strong piece of family history."

City Councilman Bob Becker said Wednesday he is willing to bring up the subject of placing a historic overlay over the community at council's Aug. 31 meeting.

Becker added, however, that he didn't know exactly what might happen to the project if a measure to protect the development passes. He also said he thinks the topic should have a public airing and he feels one of his duties as a councilman is to "sponsor things" so that issues are thoroughly addressed.

"You can't really get a public discussion until that happens," he said. "I think there is some historic value to these buildings ... and the Knox Heritage folks have said this definitely deserves a historic overlay.

"This is something that should be done and if nobody else is going to sponsor it I will."

Knox Heritage, a nonprofit preservation organization, has listed Austin Homes as one of Knoxville's 15 most endangered historic properties and recommends on its Web site -- http://www.knoxheritage.org -- that "the final decision on demolition should be postponed until all other possible alternatives have been explored in earnest."

Although Kim Trent, the group's executive director, couldn't be reached Wednesday afternoon, the group's Web site describes Austin Homes as "the only remaining example of New Deal-era public housing remaining in Knoxville" and says the buildings "have housed generations of Knoxvillians and have borne that burden well."

Spicuzza, however, said that KCDC has contacted the Tennessee Historical Society and was told Austin Homes had "no historical significance that would prevent" the demolition.

"We didn't ignore the historic aspect," she said.

Spicuzza said she was surprised to hear that some residents might be planning to defy their evictions because it was her understanding that the remaining residents were in the process of moving.

"Everyone either has units in the new section or are getting vouchers," she said. "Maybe they didn't get started moving quickly enough, or maybe they were selective about what part of town they wanted to use their vouchers in."

KCDC has offered to pay each displaced resident for moving expenses and has also offered them a choice between Section 8 vouchers and apartments in other KCDC-owned complexes, including the "new section" of Austin Homes which opened in 1963, Spicuzza said.

Those awarded Section 8 vouchers can use them to pay rent at private rental properties that contract with KCDC, she said.

As of Wednesday, KCDC had relocated 217 people living in 111 Austin Homes households out of an original 126 households, Spicuzza said.

J.J. Stambaugh may be reached at 865-342-6307

KEEPING TRACK

* Background: Knoxville Community Development Corp. was awarded a federal grant in June to demolish the old section of Austin Homes in East Knoxville.

* What's new: Some Austin Homes residents are threatening to stay in their homes past the eviction deadline and are pushing for a historic overlay to protect the site.

* What's next: KCDC's Board of Directors will choose a demolition contractor Aug. 26 at its 11:30 a.m. meeting at its main office, 901 N. Broadway.

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Miami Profiteers Abuse Alameda Renters

Minorities Being Run Out Of Alameda

By Lynda Carson August 21, 2004

Protests at Alameda City Hall are becoming a normal ritual lately because so many low-income families are being threatened with forced relocation due to a lack of fair housing laws that could be used to protect them.

A large segment of poor and minority families in Alameda have been taking a beating this past month from a Miami based corporation that is evicting a minimum of 1,200 people from their housing units in the City of Alameda.

"I still can't believe that this is happening to us," said long time renter Lorraine Lilley. "We are the last holdout of diversity in Alameda, we are people of color and you will not find a more diverse area in this city. After 25 years of paying rent here and raising two kids, I feel as though I should be part owner of this complex by now, and instead I'm being tossed out upon the streets like some kind of used piece of junk thats not wanted anymore."

Click below for full story.

http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/08/1692564.php

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Unsafe, unsanitary areas rile residents
Detroit News - Aug 22 11:13 PM
DETROIT — It’s not just the sight of used condoms and needles or the smell of urine that leaves Bettie Washington breathless, it’s the 13 flights of stairs she’s forced to navigate when the elevators break down at the Brewster-Douglass housing project off Interstate 75, near Mack.

“They have to do something about me not needing to walk down these steps all the time,” said the 55-year-old who depends on a wooden cane to support a bad knee. “There’s a lot of old people in here. Some of them can’t come down.”

Unsanitary and unsafe living conditions are common challenges faced by residents of the Detroit Housing Commission. And its recent separation from direct city oversight has made matters worse for thousands of poor across the city. The separation has caused cutbacks in staff and left more than 80 jobs unfilled.

When the commission became its own entity last month, it scaled back its work force to 259 from 301 employees, and 86 of the 259 positions are unfilled.

Now, low-income housing residents complain about trash-filled stairwells, broken elevators and windows, fungus, clogged gutters and faulty furnaces, their cries seemingly unheard as the commission grapples with reorganizing.

Click below for full story and photos...

http://www.detnews.com/2004/metro/0408/23/a01-251006.htm

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In Brief...

Officials: Voucher system failing
nwitimes.com - Aug 22 10:30 PM
Housing officials in communities with large numbers of Section 8 voucher users say they don't have a problem with the residents, but rather with the system.

Housing officials in communities with large numbers of Section 8 voucher users say they don't have a problem with the residents, but rather with the system.

Rebecca Wojewoda, Calumet City's fair housing director, said the federal department of Housing and Urban Development should put the vouchers in the hands of local municipalities to prevent the re-creation of "pockets of poverty," she said.

"This has become a lifelong program. Section 8 was not intended to be lifelong," Wojewoda said. "It was intended to help people get a start, raising their children in safe neighborhoods, not re-creating pockets of poverty."

In Calumet City, she said the working poor suffer most, since they do not qualify for vouchers and cannot afford to pay the above-market-rate rent many landlords would rather save for Section 8 voucher holders. It is advantageous to be a Section 8 landlord, since HUD generally pays about 70 percent of the rent. As a result, real-estate investors can get higher-than-market rent for units through the voucher program, Wojewoda said.

"The working poor can no longer afford housing," she said. "The government has made renting unaffordable to the working poor, not those without resources (for government assistance)."

From Indiana...

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HOUSING - Section 8 draining south suburbs
Housing authorities, experts say system is failing.
BY MEMA AYI Sunday Aug 22, 2004
Times Staff Writer

While the number of Section 8 vouchers used locally is on the decline, housing officials maintain the program is placing an unfair burden on the south suburbs.
A total of 11 communities in south suburban Cook County saw a decrease in the numbers of families using vouchers the past year.

Still, about 70 percent of Cook County's vouchers are distributed in the south suburbs, despite the region's distinction of housing only 25 percent of the county's rental properties, according to the not-for-profit Housing Choice Partners.

Joe Martin, executive director of Diversity Inc., a not-for-profit coalition of south suburban municipalities whose purpose, in part, is to eliminate housing discrimination, said racism also plays a part in where people choose to live. As a result, Section 8 families tend to be concentrated in the poorest areas of the metropolitan region.

More than 90 percent of families in the voucher program are black women who are heads of households and have some children, which may be the reason distribution of the vouchers is concentrated in the South Suburbs, Martin said. A more fair distribution of the vouchers would send people to the north and west suburbs were there are more job opportunities, though rent tends to be out of the range HUD is willing to pay, he said.

From Cook County illinois.

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Online from Westerly, Rhode Island
Westerly Sun - Aug 21 5:50 AM
WESTERLY - Proposed cuts in government housing grants threaten to cripple the town's Section 8 program and kick the local affordable housing crisis into high gear, according to figures released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

HUD has proposed to reduce the town's fair market monthly rent, the federal price cap on housing that can qualify for Section 8 subsidies, according to Theresa Wright, of the Westerly Housing Authority.

"Proposed fair market rents are decreasing, but the rents (in town) are increasing," Wright said. "Our congress people need to support the fact that we can't support people on a decreased fair market rent," she added.

According to Wright, the Section 8 program subsidizes tenants unable to afford rents through vouchers paid to their landlords. Currently, the federal fair market rent for a typical two-bedroom apartment in town is $797. Under HUD's proposed spending plan for 2005, however, that figure drops to $671, she said.

"Are you going to find a two-bedroom unit in Westerly for $670?" Wright asks, "I don't think so."

The Westerly Housing Authority now has 198 households receiving Section 8 vouchers, but that number may be all but wiped out if the new fair market rent takes affect.

Click below for full story...

http://www.thewesterlysun.com/articles/2004/08/21/news/news2.txt

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City buys apartments
Sonoma Index-Tribune - Aug 20 5:09 PM
8.20.04 - With the goal of preserving an affordable housing complex inside city limits, the Sonoma City Council gave the nod Wednesday to purchase the 34-unit Village Green II apartment complex.

The property is expected to cost the city about $4.2 million, or about $123,529 an apartment. Of that, $3.95 million will pay for the apartments and land; $30,000 will be used for appraisal, legal and consultant fees; $170,000 will pay for building repairs; and the remainder would go for other expenses including title insurance and escrow fees.

The loans will be repaid through a mix of rent monies and government subsidies. Tenants currently pay $405 a month for a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment and $535 for a two-bedroom, one-bathroom unit - not enough money for the city to be able to make the mortgage payment without assistance.

Market rate for a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment in the complex is $935, and $1,225 is market rate for a two-bedroom, one-bathroom. There are eight two-bedroom units.

The apartments have been rented at below-market rates since they were built in the mid-1970s. The lower rents were part of an agreement the owners made with the U.S. Department of Agriculture when they took out a 50-year low-interest construction loan to pay for building costs. The owners began paying off the debt to the USDA last June and are only required to rent the homes as very-low-income housing until the mortgage is paid.

The apartments are part of a larger 75-unit complex, which was built in two phases. Each portion of the project was financed separately. The loan on the first 41 units was paid off, and the apartments are now being rented at market rate.

Click below for full story...

http://www.sonomanews.com/articles/2004/08/20/news/top_stories/news02.txt

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08/22/04
Sun Herald - Aug 21 7:20 PM
PUNTA GORDA -- Leaving home is never easy, even when home is a place most people would never care to visit. Such was the sadness at the Punta Gorda Housing Authority's Myrtle Avenue complex Saturday afternoon, as residents, relations and friends gathered at a pig roast before separating.

"Today is the day when I think it sank in for them," said Jean Farino, executive director of the Housing Authority of the former tenants. "So many of them were crying."

Karen Cato-Turner, federal director of public housing and Section 8 programs, said 65 of the former tenants have been relocated. More than 350 people lived in the city's public housing projects, and new residences are still being sought for them.

Cato-Turner said that some of the building may be bulldozed to make way for new housing. She said former tenants would have first dibs on the new units.

Another fear of many is that city officials may take a covetous look at the waterfront units of the Housing Authority. But Cato-Turner said she doubted that public housing would be replaced.

Click below for full story...

http://www.sun-herald.com/NewsArchive2/082204/tp20ch20.htm?date=082204&story=tp20ch20.htm

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Yolo Housing authority cuts vouchers
The Woodland Daily Democrat Online - Aug 19 12:32 AM
Yolo County Housing Authority moved Tuesday to cut 199 families from the Section 8 housing subsidy program. The decision on how to deal with funding reductions by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was made at a public hearing in West Sacramento.

Until this week, the Yolo County Housing Authority - one of about 2,500 institutions in the county that administers the program - had staved off cuts that were set into motion last spring. On April 22, HUD notified housing authorities that they would not be able to provide more Housing Choice Voucher subsidies than were given in August 2003.

In addition to setting a limit on vouchers, HUD reduced the amount it pays toward the vouchers and administration fees.

Authority officials said they still hope to find additional funds elsewhere. Until then, those who have received subsidies the longest are slated to be cut from the program.

The handicapped, people older than 61 and families with a member abroad serving in the Armed Forces will not be affected by the decision, which will impact 14 percent of the families currently taking advantage of the program.

Click below for full story...


http://www.dailydemocrat.com/articles/2004/08/19/news/news02.txt

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Motel shelter program shut down
Berkshire Eagle - Aug 20 11:55 PM
NORTH ADAMS -- The state Department of Transitional Assistance has halted a program that allowed motels and hotels to serve as shelter for the homeless, a decision met with a thumbs-down from several area human-service providers.

The program, which had operated for five years at a cost of more than $50 million, was deemed too expensive, said a statement from Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey.

About 97 motels were used statewide and the program peaked in August 2003 with 599 families staying at a motel or hotel.

Louison House Program Manager Christine Griffin said she had no idea such a move was coming. The Adams-based shelter is full with 26 residents, including children, and there is a shelter waiting list, Griffin said.

Massachusetts Homeless Coalition member Kelly Turley said that about 10,500 families are homeless in the state.

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~7514~2349515,00.html

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News/Florida
Palatka Daily News - Aug 20 4:23 AM
PALATKA The public housing director said Thursday that new building requirements will make it easier to get rid of the downtown high-rise, while board members assured residents they will not be left out in the cold if they do.

The PHA has been trying to sell or demolish the Frank George Apartments for several years. The city of Palatka's plans to lure a developer to the area hinge on being able to offer that property and an adjacent city block on the riverfront.

High-rise resident James Gibbs expressed concern about the fate of the residents. Commissioner David Baggs said the PHA would continue to provide housing to its residents.

Click below for full story...

http://www.palatkadailynews.com/articles/2004/08/20/news/news03.txt

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Tulalip Tribes admit to problems
Emily Heffter; Times Snohomish County bureau
The Seattle Times
August 20, 2004


Months before the Tulalip Tribes learned they might lose their U.S. Housing and Urban Development grant money because of bad bookkeeping, they were trying to hire accountants.

The tribes have been advertising their need for two certified public accountants, Tribal Chairman Stan Jones said. Now, as tribal leaders scramble to investigate what went wrong and regain the trust of HUD, they are matter of fact about their shortcomings.

"We've grown so fast, you know, you get behind there," said Jones.

The tribes' board dissolved the Tulalip Tribes Housing Authority and its Board of Commissioners on Tuesday, following a letter from HUD that questioned seven years' worth of spending by the housing authority. Housing commissioners may have misused as much as $6.3 million.

Audits and reports from the past several years show commissioners took money intended for housing for poor tribal members and spent it on trips, expensive meals and other questionable expenses. According to HUD's letter, they also failed to file audits and reports, double-paid themselves and disregarded HUD's environmental regulations. The tribes have 30 days to reach an agreement with HUD.

Disbanding the housing authority hit close to home for two members of the board of directors: Vice Chairwoman Marie Zackuse is married to a housing commissioner; another board member and the tribes' treasurer, Marlin Fryberg, served for seven years on the housing commission before being elected to the board.

Neither Fryberg nor the Zackuses returned calls seeking comment yesterday. Repeated attempts to reach housing commission Chairwoman Verna James and former Chairman Dale Jones were unsuccessful.

Over the past decade, the Tulalips have grown from an impoverished people heavily dependent on a waning fishing industry and federal government grants to a multimillion-dollar corporation. They opened a huge, $78 million casino last summer, but within six months they hit financial trouble and laid off 240 employees in order to keep up on loan payments.

Problems at the casino and the housing authority had a common denominator, said former Tulalip Casino Chief Executive Chuck James: Managers aren't trained to deal with large sums of money.

"It's strictly training," he said yesterday. "Training people how to manage people and manage the affairs of the departments that they're working in."

Tribes around the state need more accountants to keep up with their growth, said Judy Joseph, superintendent of the Puget Sound region of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. When the state legalized casinos on reservations, tribes found they had to hire accountants from Nevada, she said.

The Tulalip Tribes' board changed the locks on the housing authority office so it can hire an auditor to investigate. If the tribes can reach an agreement with HUD, they still may be spared financial sanctions. HUD could make them repay the nearly $12 million in grants the tribes have been allocated since 1998 or freeze an unspent $5.7 million.

Emily Heffter: 425-783-0624 or eheffter [at] seattletimes.com

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