Section 8 Mtg. Tonight

 

HUD may never allow a reduction in vouchers, which personally I think is ludicrous and shortsighted on their part, but that is a possibility that we must deal with. 

 

Parma seems to have come up with a program that they can live with and it appears that Middletown's is based on what they have done and accomplished for themselves.  To have 700-800 Vouchers and only 50-60 voucher holders that actually live in the City of Parma is a huge success, if you ask me.  A success that I hope Middletown can also duplicate with about a 75% reduction as Mr. Adkins stated.

 

Now we are squabbling over who does inspections.  Who cares who does the inspections as long as they are done correctly and no one group doing them is outrageously higher money wise than the other  groups.

 

The city wants:

 

Lead Based Paint

HQS

International Property Maintenance Code Inspections

 

done.  Now who can do all of those inspections for the right price and do it right?  If it is the City can do it then let the city do it.  If it is a combination of the City doing the First inspection and TIG doing the followup inspections so be it.

 

Personally for me the bottom line is a reduction in the number of Section 8 Voucher Holders in the City of Middletown, which leads also to a reduction in the amount of Poverty in Middletown.  If this is what it takes to make this happen than fine with me, lets move ahead.  My only concerned in this matter is how long is it going to take to see some measurable results.

 

So my question is why all this hoopla about inspections? 

 

It was only a tangent "what if" scenerio that I mentioned, and not entirely out of the realm of possibility.

I have had recent discussions with major Section 8 landlords, listening to their take on the situation.

I have defended and agreed with your new program, and look forward to seeing it implemented within your anticipated time frame.

 

So--why not hire the cream of the local Section 8 residents to do the housing inspections? They should be well-versed in the program, requirements and regulations. This would also transform them from users to gainfully employed within the city. They could communicate and bridge the gap between the program participants, the landlords and the city admin.

 

Action--no more rhetoric

 

I'm probably going to get raked over the coals again but Pacman is right.  At some point you all have to stop looking for and creating conspiracies and deal with the particular issue at hand.   Council asked me to prepare a plan to get control of the program.  The plan was presented and put on the website for public review.  The individual points, good and bad, have been discussed openly by Council and by the public at large.  Council approved by a 7-0 vote to accept all of the recommended changes and I am drafting the remainder of the Admin Plan to implement each of those changes. 

 

If you disagree with any or all of the changes, I respect a difference of opinion.  To suggest that this is some type of money grab after all of the work put into this by Staff and Council is flatly untrue and counterproductive.  The citizens, including the contributors to this blog, have clamored for change in the Section 8 program.  Now that we're doing it, half of you are creating conspiracies as to how we don't really mean it. 

 

Don't let your message get lost in the rhetoric.

 

TIG was hired to do one type of Inspection HQS HUD Inspections for $140,000.00 a year if I remember correctly.

 

How much more would it cost if you had them do Lead Based Paint Inspections,  International Property Maintenance Code Inspections and HQS Inspections?  That depends on if they are even certified to do the other inspections.

 

Last year wasn't Consoc tasked with doing the inspections, now whether they farmed them out or  did it themselves doesn't really matter.  I believe their fee was in line with what is paid to TIG.

 

TIG is paid about $35.00 for each scheduled inspection if the tenant is a no show.  They have had about 225 so far this year, so figure on about 500 for the year.  That is $17,500.00 that is wasted and can't be billed to the tenant per HUD.  Wonder if the Inspections can be scheduled with the Landlord since they are benefiting from the rental and then if they are a no show they pay?

 

 

I say give this program some time to pan out.  I believe Adkins said about 18-24 months to see some results.  All of these assumptions about a hiring spree coming to city hall is just that for now assumptions.

 

Don't miss the big picture here by creating conspiracies.  The big picture is the reduction of Section 8 Voucher holders in the city and A reduction in the amount of Poverty in the city, this is a good thing for the city overall. 

 

 

Apparently the newly-hired crew(great research job Council!) is not getting much done.

Supposedly we can do this more efficiently in-house, though I read the chart as showing in-house to be more expensive.

 

If, as Mr.A claims we can do this better with NEW city employees, and less expensively:

Does his expense analysis also include health care coverage and retirement contributions?

 

Would you re-hire former employees back at their former pay rates(or higher?) and re-establish their benefit program at the old level? Would they carry over or get more accrued time benefits?

 

Would you hire NEW employees at a much lower starting pay rate, and place them at the beginning of the health care/retitement/accrued time program?

 

Why would Mr.Mulligan and Mr.Becker strongly oppose recommended changes last year, then change to supporting the new program?  They gave no explanations,however they may change their thinking due to recent developments(a concept unfamiliar to many here, who get everything correct first time around).