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Posted: 7:03 p.m.
Friday, May 22, 2015
Housing authority: We won’t be ‘Big Brother’
for Middletown
police
By http://www.journal-news.com/staff/ed-richter/" rel="nofollow - 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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