Chandra Profit had to move within the same public housing complex in North Little Rock four times in a year, and she is not the only resident in this situation, she said.
“We have so many leases [that] We don’t know who the manager is or what lease we’re going to sign, “she said.
The moves were necessary so that the Heritage House building at Hickory View Apartments could be renovated, said Belinda Snow, executive director of the North Little Rock Housing Authority.
The North Little Rock Authority is one of the many public housing agencies in Arkansas and across the country participating in the Rental Assistance Demonstration Program, administered by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, to secure funding for maintenance and renovation works.
The program converts public housing according to Section 9 into either the project-based or the apartment choice voucher program offered according to Section 8. Local and regional housing authorities own and operate Section 9 real estate, while Section 8 vouchers allow recipients to choose their own residence within a housing authority’s jurisdiction. The housing authority does not always own housing units from §8 recipients.
Former President Barack Obama’s administration launched the Rent Support Demonstration Program in 2012 to provide a new source of funding for public housing after decades of underfunding.
Under the program, private companies are renting the building, although the housing authorities still own the property. In the meantime, the tenants have to sign new leases with the new owners.
This private property enables housing authorities to contract with banks and finance companies – whether through loans, tax credits, grants, or a combination – to earn millions of dollars for plumbing, flooring, roofing, electrical and other repairs and maintenance.
While these changes are necessary to make the buildings safer and more liveable, both tenants and housing attorneys have said that the introduction of private facilities into the public housing system can create a separation between tenants and housing authorities.
“People are scared because they don’t know their rights and all of a sudden there is a new owner and new leases and people can get overwhelmed,” said Michael Kane, executive director of the National Alliance of HUD Tenants. “That is certainly a common pattern across the country.”
Snow said that not every document renters like Profit had to sign when moving were new leases. For example, if tenants moved from a one-bedroom apartment to a two-bedroom apartment, they would have to sign a new lease, but otherwise only sign their Section 8 contract so that the housing authority could keep accurate records of who lived where and calculate the correct rent.
There are sometimes “significant changes” when a private agency takes ownership of a formerly public program, especially because private agencies have a profit incentive, said Deborah Thrope, assistant director of the National Housing Law Project.
“A lot can change for the tenant, but it really depends on the individual deal and whether the tenants are organized or educated [about their new leases],” She said.
REPAIR NEED
In 2016, the Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated it would take $ 26 billion to repair and restore the country’s 1.1 million public housing units, with an additional $ 3.4 billion in unmet capital needs each year incurred.
North Little Rock had up to $ 90 million in repair needs in 2016, Snow said at the time. The agency’s buildings were built in 1942 and the HUD’s $ 1 million annual allowance for maintenance and renovation wasn’t enough, she said.
Snow and other public housing directors said the rental support demonstration program was the only way to get enough money for the projects. The North Little Rock Housing Authority once tried to focus its renovation efforts on a specific building, Willow House, for a full fiscal year, but that proved financially impractical, Snow said.
“It still doesn’t affect what had to be done on this development, and by doing so you minimize responsiveness when a bigger problem arises on another development,” she said.
BGC Advantage, a Louisiana development company, is the principal owner of six North Little Rock Housing Authority housing complexes. Gorman and Co. Inc., a Wisconsin development and investment company, owns the Fred W. Parris, Cumberland, and Jesse Powell towers in Little Rock.
Both companies hired subcontractors for management and construction work.
The North Little Rock agency rebuilt 315 units in three buildings – Windemere Hills, Eastgate Terrace, and Cedar Gardens at Hickory View – for more than $ 69 million, according to documents Snow provided to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette Has.
Approximately 700 units in all three Little Rock Towers have passed the rental support demonstration program, said Kenyon Lowe, chair of the Metropolitan Housing Alliance committee. The $ 70 million project made every unit accessible to people with disabilities, he said.
Little Rock agency also plans to remodel Madison Heights, Sunset Terrace, and the Homes at Granite Mountain at a cost of between $ 75 million and $ 80 million, Lowe said. In July 2017, the agency remodeled Cumberland Manor and Metropolitan Village, and since both were built in 2009, no repairs were required.
The Federal Ministry allows housing companies to combine the vouchers managed by the rental subsidy program with those from Section 18, which enables old buildings to be demolished. Three buildings in North Little Rock, including the Heritage House where Profit lives, have undergone this combined remodeling project, Snow said.
Lowe said the Metropolitan Housing Authority failed to implement Section 18.
“We don’t have to tear down [because] None of our housing stocks are that old or in such bad shape, “he said.
In addition, both Little Rock and North Little Rock agencies offer tenants mobility vouchers of their choice that allow 25% of tenants of Section 8 of a converted building to move to another building after a year if they so choose.
However, it’s not clear how many tenants know they could do this as part of the rental support demonstration program, Thrope said.
“How many tenants are aware of and choosing this option is a big question,” she said. “There have been some studies on electoral mobility, but not many. It’s a really important right that we hope tenants are educated about and that housing authorities are aware of.”
CONCERNS OF THE RENTER
The Texarkana Housing Authority has converted 390 units in nine buildings with the program, said managing director Brandy Bradley.
Before moving to her current position, Bradley worked closely with the agency’s moving office to ensure tenants knew where to move to during the renovations, she said.
“When it was time for them to come back, our tenants had the first opportunity to return to their apartment or go somewhere else,” she said. “I think the move for all tenants went really smoothly.”
Lowe and Snow both said their respective agencies have made the same concerted effort to keep tenants informed of upcoming changes to the program.
“I think the residents are sick of seeing us,” said Snow. “It got to the point where we went out and talked about it and they said, ‘You’ve all been talking about it for two or three years, when are you going to start working on it?'”
However, Profit and another resident of the Heritage House, who requested anonymity on religious grounds, said they and other renters are in the dark about what is changing in their apartment complex. After two years under new management, tenants are still struggling to reach anyone who can deal with complaints or questions, Profit said.
“They always say that they will try to do better, but we haven’t been able to contact anyone lately,” she said.
Kane said efforts to include tenants in the program have usually been “frivolous,” especially when tenants are unorganized. Tenants of federally funded apartments have the right to form housing advisory boards in their buildings and to present their needs and wishes to the apartment owners and management companies.
The Hickory View buildings used to have a residents’ council, Profit said, but it has not been active since the management change, mainly because the council’s previous leader died and no one stepped into his role.
Profit said that every time she switched to another unit, she did so under threat of police intervention. Snow could not be reached on Saturday for further comments.
Profit and the other resident of the Heritage House both said the building was in poor condition despite ongoing renovations.
“If you ask to have something fixed, it won’t be fixed,” said the other resident. “You can no longer sit in the shower. You took out the shower rails. Some older people are afraid to get in the shower because they are afraid of falling. “
BGC Advantage denied claims that the work they had done so far was inadequate.
“The major renovation for Hickory View included a complete interior and bathroom renovation, including new tile surrounds and walk-in showers,” said Holly Knight, CEO of BGC, in a statement. “New energy-efficient lighting has been installed in all units. Finishes include new cabinets, luxury vinyl floors, kitchen fixtures and energy-efficient appliances. Each apartment has its own air conditioning and heating system.”
While housing companies have benefited financially from the program, tenants’ problems with the program come as no surprise to its proponents, Kane said.
“The fight for tenants is to make sure their interests are protected, that they are not evicted, that management is responsive and non-oppressive, that their right to organize independently is respected. [and that] You can do that without harassment, “Kane said.