Representatives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will arrive in town Tuesday for a three-day review of the Middletown Public Housing Agency and the city’s Section 8 Housing Voucher Program. The city has spent unknown amounts of money and staff time gathering hundreds of pages of documents and hiring outside counsel in preparation for the compliance visit.

And the city might have to spend even more money and time responding to the five “substantive” deficiencies HUD identified in the MPHA’s five-year and annual plan, which outlined the city’s desire to reduce its 1,662 housing choice vouchers by 1,008 through attrition over the next half decade. HUD has given the city until mid-August to address the deficiencies, which includes a requirement to hold a public hearing on the plan and document any comments or testimony given by attendees.

Despite the financial cost and resistance to the plan by HUD thus far, city officials appear poised to stay the course. While some council members, like Vice Mayor Dan Picard, are concerned about the potential costs of challenging the federal housing agency, they believe they are heading in the right direction.

And while they aren’t willing to say right now how far they will push the fight with HUD, most council members say the city hasn’t reached the point of no return yet.

“We as council and the (MPHA) board have to do what’s best for Middletown,” Councilman Josh Laubach said. “I think we’re doing what’s right.”

Laubach agrees with city administration assessments that “we have an oversaturation of public housing in the city.” Statistics show that Middletown has more subsidized housing per capita than any city in Ohio. All subsidized housing accounts for 49.8 percent of Middletown’s total housing stock and Section 8 makes up 14.3 percent.

City officials say the cuts to Section 8 they are proposing would bring that number to a more manageable 10 percent. At its present levels, Section 8 housing is putting a strain on city services and negatively impacting Middletown’s image and economic development efforts, city officials say.

But in the June 13 letter to the city rejecting its reduction plan, HUD officials maintained the city had not done enough to justify the voucher cuts or consider their impact on low-income families with children, minorities and persons with disabilities. In short, HUD’s letter seemed to be pointing out that the city had an obligation to take care of the poor people who were already calling the city home.

According the U.S. Census Bureau, 23.2 percent of Middletown residents are living in poverty, nearly double the number in 1999.

Councilman Joe Mulligan said one of the reasons the city is looking at reducing the number of vouchers is to be able to better serve the underprivileged, which includes providing quality housing in safe neighborhoods.

“If we are not able to provide safe neighborhoods with good housing stock to lower income families, that’s not a good environment for them and they would be better served in other towns or in other parts of the country,” Mulligan said. “One thing, I think, HUD maybe overlooks is that over the past two decades or more, we really have served a lot of low-income families.”

While little has been disclosed about what HUD’s Civil Rights Compliance visit from July 16-18 will entail, it is clear the agency will be checking to make sure the city is following all the federal rules and that no discriminatory practices are taking place.

HUD spokeswoman Donna White said since the review is an investigation she couldn’t comment on specifics.

“The purpose is to determine whether or not the reduction of the Section 8 voucher program is in noncompliance with the requirements of (HUD’s Civil Rights section) and the authority’s obligation to affirmatively further fair housing,” White said.

City administrators have remained relatively tight-lipped in the days leading up to the probe. City Manager Judy Gilleland said simply, “We will know more” when HUD inspectors arrive in the city on Tuesday.

“The only thing we are aware of so far is that they are going to review files,” she said.

Laubach added: “I would certainly hope that we are not being unfairly targeted for any scrutiny simply because somebody disagrees with our decisions. After all we have an obligation with our citizens, and we have to work within the confines of the guidelines and regulations and do what’s best for the citizens.”

Many landlords who rent properties to Section 8 voucher holders have been equally quiet, though some say for a very different reason. Several landlords refuse to comment openly, telling the The Journal they fear repercussions by the city.

One landlord who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the city has “a way of getting back at you.”

The city’s Section 8 program receives about $10 million from HUD, which is held to the number of vouchers held by the city. Millions of those dollars are paid to Section 8 landlords, while a few hundred thousand dollars goes to the city, which is split with Nelson & Associates which manages the program.

That landlord said HUD’s presence in the city next week and their rejection of the city’s plan should be cause for “concern.”

“There are people who need the program, who are not necessarily being qualified for the program properly, or given the opportunities others maybe given,” the landlord said.

With the reduction, the landlord said the city needs to “strike a balance” with the city’s demographics, the housing and potential growth areas.

“The reduction of the voucher program is part of overall systemic issues with a lack of jobs and a lack of adequate housing for the people who are in need,” the landlord said.

On the idea of giving the 1,008 vouchers back to HUD, or even transferring them to the Butler Metro Housing Authority, the landlord had no opinion but said, “I think it’s important we have a local presence, but I’m concerned with the city’s administrative costs associated with the program.”

Jennifer Layburn, a Section 8 tenant in Middletown, agrees with the city that the number of vouchers needs to be reduced.

“I know there are people that are on (the program) that don’t need to be on there,” she said, adding she used to know some voucher holders who had boyfriends living with them despite that being against the rules of the program.

But she called the reduction plan “almost a Catch 22” because while vouchers need to be reduced, “I think it’s going to hurt the people that really be need to be on Section 8. A few bad seeds makes it bad for everyone.”

A transfer of the vouchers to Butler Metropolitan Housing Authority is an idea she thinks the city and HUD should consider because “they’d would still have housing available for those who need it.”

David Rhodus, a Middletown Section 8 tenant, believes the whole program should be transferred to Butler County.

“I don’t really agree with (the reduction),” he said. “I don’t think the city of Middletown really knows how to run the program.”

He said the MPHA has treated him and his fiancee poorly, and he feels their civil rights have been violated for not allowing them to be rent from the daughter of a former Section 8 landlord who had been removed from the program.

“We’re being force to move … and I feel our civil rights are being violated,” he said.

CONTINUING COVERAGE

The Middletown Journal is committed to reporting the news that affects your community. The debate between the city’s efforts to reduce Section 8 vouchers and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will have an impact on the ultimate outcome, and you will hear about this outcome first with The Middletown Journal.

Requested Data

The U.S.

She said she has heard that some people have been discriminated against and she welcomes the review of the Middletown Public Housing Agency and the city’s Section 8 Housing Voucher Program. Representatives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development are in town this week for a three-day review of the program.

The city wants to cut the number of Section 8 housing vouchers by 60 percent, or roughly 1,008, over the next five years. Some have argued the influx of subsidized housing over the past decade plus is partly responsible for the city’s high poverty rate of 23.2 percent, double what it was in 1999.

City officials have said the oversaturation of Section 8 housing is putting a strain on the city’s services and image. But some who utilize the program say the city’s actions send the wrong message to people struggling to make ends meet.

Tammy Mason, a nurse with Acclaim Home Health, said she’s also concerned that the cost of her rent continues to rise and is strangling her budget. By the time she pays for her rent, there isn’t enough money left to pay for her utilities and other bills.

“You can’t afford it like you used to,” said Mason, a mother of three — ages 20, 19 and 12.

She has been in the Section 8 program for about five years, she said.

Another 40-year-old woman, who lives in the Robin Spring apartment complex, said she left the Middletown program and joined one in Warren County after she felt “like trash” in the city.

“I’m just trying to better myself,” said the woman who wanted to remain anonymous. She recently was laid off from Miami University and said she’s still looking for another job.

She said the program should be used as “a stepping stone,” and people shouldn’t stay on it forever. She said the finances of the tenants should be reviewed every couple of years to make sure they’re not “abusing the situation.”

She said people commonly get “sucked in” to the program. She believes landlords sometimes “jack up” the rent when they’re dealing with those on Section 8.

Her rent for a three-bedroom is $800 a month and she pays $80. She has been in the program for about eight years, she said.

Faith Heflin, 24, and her fiance, Greg Motto, 24, moved into the apartment complex last month, and expect to get out of the program once he graduates from Wright State University’s School of Medicine. She’s a music teacher at Mariemont Elementary School near Cincinnati, so they looked for an apartment in the voucher program midway between her workplace and Fairborn.

In their situation, she said, the voucher program is “very temporary.”

When asked about the program, she said they’ve been treated “very fairly.”

HUD recently identified five “substantive” deficiencies in the MPHA’s five-year and annual plan, which outlined the city’s desire to reduce its 1,662 housing choice vouchers by 1,008 through attrition. HUD has given the city until mid-August to address the deficiencies, which includes a requirement to hold a public hearing on the plan and document any comments or testimony given by attendees.

Councilman Josh Laubach agrees with city administration assessments that “we have an oversaturation of public housing in the city.” Statistics show that Middletown has more subsidized housing per capita than any city in Ohio. All subsidized housing accounts for 49.8 percent of Middletown’s total housing stock and Section 8 makes up 14.3 percent.

City officials say the cuts to Section 8 they are proposing would bring that number to a more manageable 10 percent.

But in the June 13 letter to the city rejecting its reduction plan, HUD officials maintained the city had not done enough to justify the voucher cuts or consider their impact on low-income families with children, minorities and persons with disabilities. In short, HUD’s letter seemed to be pointing out that the city had an obligation to take care of the poor people who were already calling the city home.

HUD spokeswoman Donna White said since the review is an investigation she couldn’t comment on specifics.