Investigators with HUD came to the city Tuesday to review the Middletown Public Housing Agency’s Housing Choice Voucher Program, commonly referred to as Section 8. They finished the on-site investigation Thursday.

HUD officials are not commenting on the review.

“We are in the middle of a review of compliance with a civil rights law. We are not at liberty to discuss our investigation, the subjects or the timing,” said HUD spokeswoman Shantae Goodloe.

City officials said HUD has not disclosed any type of timetable for a response.

The review is on the heels of the MPHA board, which consists of the seven-member City Council, deciding to reduce its Section 8 voucher allocation by 1,008 over the next four to five years. The city’s justification is the city can only support 654 Section 8 vouchers within the public housing agency’s program.

The plan approved by way of a 6-1 vote by MPHA indicates that the 1,662 vouchers represents 49.8 percent of all subsidized housing in the city, and 14.3 percent of all available housing. The reduction in Section 8 vouchers would reduce all subsidized housing in the city to 10 percent of all available housing.

According to its May 31 letter to the city, Carolyn Murphy, HUD’s Columbus Fair Housing Center director, told the city the review will cover the administration of the Section 8 program and consists of reviewing documents and conducting interviews.

The review will be carried out in two phases, Murphy wrote: an on-site review, which has been conducted, and an in-house review of data pertaining to the program. The on-site review consisted of interviews of MPHA staff, city officials, and local advocacy groups, as well as collecting, analyzing and verifying data and documents.

The city had prepared 1,000 pages worth of documents. HUD requested a lengthy list of data, information and materials, which was due by June 27.

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.

After an abundance of correspondence from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the city’s public housing agency held an unscheduled closed-door meeting Thursday afternoon.

It wasn’t unexpected HUD would shine a spotlight on the city following its October 2012-approved plan to reduce the number of Housing Choice Vouchers, also known as Section 8, by 1,008 over a five-year period. And despite subsequent letters from HUD asking the city to reconsider, the city is staying the course — a course of action many on council said they believe is right.

“I am concerned about the many hoops HUD is making us jump through,” said Vice Mayor Dan Picard. “I’m not surprised by the requests of the other programs that we have. We’re rattling their cage and they’re rattling back.”

Councilwoman Ann Mort said she also isn’t surprised by HUD’s responses and chalked it up as “part of the way we work through all of this.”

The process, Mort said, is moving slowly, but “it’s like everything in government that grinds slowly, and that’s one of the things we have to wade through.”

MPHA, which consists of all seven members of city council, called for the executive session meeting on the second floor of the Middletown City Building. The purpose of the meeting was for “disputes involving the public body that are the subject of pending or imminent court action,” according to the only notice of the meeting, which was published among the legal ads in Wednesday’s Middletown Journal.

No discussion happened before or after the close-door session, and no decisions were made, according to City Manager Judy Gilleland.

Picard, who said he couldn’t talk about Thursday’s discussion, said he “fully expects” that wasn’t the last executive session on the topic since it is an ongoing issue.

In July, the city underwent a three-day Civil Rights Compliance review of its Section 8 program, and a second three-day review occurred earlier this week. Since it’s an ongoing review, HUD officials aren’t commenting.

Councilwoman Anita Scott Jones was brief in her comments, saying, “I believe that where we are is where we need to be, and that’s all I can say right now.” Councilman Joe Mulligan was also hesitant to talk too much Friday, just a day after the executive session meeting.

“I think that staff is working through answering HUD’s concerns,” he said. “The report that Doug Adkins and his team put together (and presented in October), that really was a comprehensive analysis of what direction the city should go in terms of the number of vouchers.”

Mayor Larry Mulligan and Councilman Josh Laubach declined to comment about the meeting, or the scrutiny HUD has been placing on the city.

Councilman A.J. Smith, who couldn’t attend the 4:30 p.m. meeting due to a work conflict, said his concern is with “the actions of the city of Middletown.”

“It’s been well documented and well stated my position on the direction the city of Middletown is interested in taking,” he said. “I believe HUD is doing the right thing, and I think they need to continue and monitor what’s going on. It’s quality control.”