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Won't be Big Brother

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Vivian Moon View Drop Down
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    Posted: May 23 2015 at 12:21pm

Posted: 7:03 p.m. Friday, May 22, 2015

Housing authority: We won’t be ‘Big Brother’ for Middletown police

By Ed Richter

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN 

A Butler Metropolitan Housing official made it clear Thursday that the agency would do what it can to ensure that Section 8 landlords and tenants in Middletown comply with program rules, but it will not act as “Big Brother” for local police.

Barbara Brown, who manages BMHA’s housing choice voucher program, spoke Thursday at the monthly meeting of the Middletown Real Estate Investors Group to clarify the agency’s policies and procedures. The county housing authority took over Middletown’s Section 8, or federally subsidized housing, vouchers last year at the behest of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In her remarks, Brown said “the majority of the people we serve are good and compliant with the rules, but there are some that are not and try to get around the rules.”

When Middletown police Lt. Jim Cunningham asked Brown for a list of city properties receiving Section 8 assistance, the tone of the meeting became tense.

“For what reason?” Brown asked.

Cunningham explained the information would be used for the city’s chronic nuisance program. City officials and the landlords’ organization are developing a chronic nuisance ordinance as a way to alleviate problem properties.

The proposed ordinance is undergoing changes based on concerns raised by the landlords, and City Manager Doug Adkins said a revised version could be ready in the coming weeks for review by the landlords before Middletown City Council considers the matter.

Brown said when there is a police call or nuisance issue, the landlord and her office both receive a notice from the Middletown detective about the incident. But her office doesn’t provide that information to the police, she said. Brown said on at least three occasions the city of Hamilton has sent letters to her office requesting the same information for a list of about 100 properties.

Steve Bohannon, chairman of Middletown Real Estate Investors Group, agreed with Brown, saying, “there’s no reason for him to have that information. That’s profiling.”

“If police want to know if a person is on Section 8, then they should ask the tenant,” Bohannon said. “If they break the law, then they can pay the consequences.”

Brown said while there are good and bad clients, there are also good and bad landlords. She said those landlords have to follow through with documentation of their tenants if they become a problem and provide BMHA with sufficient evidence in order to remove them from the program.

She also reminded the landlords that BMHA and the Section 8 program is only providing the rent assistance and does not get involved in issues regarding security deposits or damages to the property. If a landlord has an issue with a tenant, Brown said they have to follow through on those legal remedies such as eviction.

“It’s up to you to decide if you want to rent to people on Section 8,” she said. “But if you do, there are certain federal rules that BMHA has to follow.”

She said the agency has been spending a lot of time working to clean up errors in the records that were transferred in the transition from the city of Middletown to BMHA. Brown could not be reached Friday for additional comment as the BMHA office is not open on Fridays.

City Manager Doug Adkins said in an email response that the city had not received any complaints from HUD or BMHA regarding the transfer.

“We are unaware of any issues,” he said in the email.

 

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Perplexed View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Perplexed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 23 2015 at 3:25pm
I can recall asking for a database of Section 8 properties from CONSOC staff back in 2007 and again in 2008. They were forthcoming with said information which in turn was passed along to Sgt. Cunningham, Marty Kohler, Judy Gilleland and Les Landen. In addition, CONSOC was always compliant with requests from Sgt. Cunningham and others to meet to discuss crime issues, methods to improve communication between Middletown Police/CONSOC/landlords, etc. After so many years of misinformation and bad mouthing, I thought it was time to set the record straight. I also know of two employees who officed in the lower level of City Hall who visited Judy Gilleland a number of times to bad mouth CONSOC. There you are, folks!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Perplexed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 23 2015 at 3:44pm
Well, how sad it is that BMHA has had to spend so much time straightening out records passed along to them by the City of Middletown. I recall current high level city staff boasting several years ago that Middletown was to have one of the very best Section 8 programs in the country. I can also remember one bureaucrat stating, "give me the power and I'll make things happen." What an ongoing line of baloney from this well-compensated senior city official.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote over the hill Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 23 2015 at 3:55pm
Wasn't it Paul Harvey who said " And now you know the rest of the story"
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Vivian Moon View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Vivian Moon Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 23 2015 at 7:02pm

City Manager Doug Adkins said in an email response that the city had not received any complaints from HUD or BMHA regarding the transfer.

“We are unaware of any issues,” he said in the email.

     When HUD came to Middletown to do the audit before the Section 8 Program was removed HUD stated that the Section 8 Program was not in compliance, records were missing, records were incomplete and not updated with current information. In fact I posted several articles on this blog from the newspaper stating these very facts.
    Butler and Warren County had to go over and check each file that they received and that is why the transfer took so long.
    Mr. Adkins was fully aware that the Section 8 files were a mess while he was over this department.

 

 

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Joined: Oct 19 2012
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote over the hill Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 23 2015 at 9:55pm
But Dougie does what Dougie does best "spin city"
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