City officials say Middletown is shouldering a disproportionate share of Butler County’s subsidized housing, which impacts crime and the city’s image, among other things. The city has more Section 8 housing per capita than any other municipality in Ohio.

Middletown officials want to cut the number of vouchers to 654, which would be about 10 percent of the city’s total housing stock. City officials have said that’s as much subsidized housing as city services can support without negatively impacting everyone.

Landlord Don Gose said he supports the vast majority of the city’s actions, including hiring a new company to operate the Section 8 program.

The city terminated its contract with Consoc Housing Consultants in late 2010 and hired Nelson & Associates in March 2011.

“To (Middletown Community Revitalization Director) Doug Adkins’ benefit, he brought in a company that is making us play by the rules,” Gose said.

Properties that had passed inspections before are failing them now, Gose said. He said he had a property that passed 11 straight inspections, but in its first inspection with Nelson & Associates, that same property failed.
Mr. Gose, the city changed the inspection rules to be more stringent and that is why many items in your property failed.

“The landlords might have been better under Consoc, but the city as a whole was not,” he said.
I do not know why you seem to be using CONSOC as the whipping post for the past failures of this program. This was clearly a total failure of Mr. Kohler's office for NOT enforcing the rules of the program.

After Nelson was hired, the city started an investigation with the Inspector General’s Office. It has netted 10 arrests of landlords for defrauding the system.

Jeff Faulkner, a landlord who owns several buildings with Section 8 tenants, has accused the city of “beating up” on landlords with stringent regulations. He claims some of his properties have failed inspections for infractions as simple as a burned out light bulb. He said he sees that as part of the city’s plan to shrink Section 8 in Middletown.
Mr. Faulkner didn't get to explain that if the inspector finds a burned out light bulb he can not replace the light while the inspector is at the property so it will pass inspection. Faulkner would need to make an appointment for another inspection.

“I don’t see any other way for them to be able to accomplish anything if they don’t get rid of the landlords that own quite a bit of property,” Faulkner said. “I don’t see how they’re going to shrink this program at all.”

If the city will be allowed to shrink the program is uncertain.

HUD has never given the city a statue or regulation that says it can’t, though the federal agency has sent letters asking the city to reconsider its actions. The MPHA at its last meeting earlier this month agreed to stay the course.
The city signed a contract

Faulkner and Gose agree that HUD won’t allow the city to shrink the program without justification.

Faulkner said he would like the city to prove there is not a need for the existing Middletown vouchers by opening up the waiting list.
HUD has already proven there is a need for this program in the Middletown

“There are many people who are wanting to move into Middletown,” he said. “I’ve got three people who want to move into Middletown from Warren County.”

Adkins said the waiting list was last open before 2009, and the vouchers were not filled.
Mr. Adkins needs to produce documentation to prove this statement....

Gose said it was a mistake for the city to accept 888 Section 8 vouchers from 1999 to 2005 — which more than doubled what they had before Dec. 1, 1999 — just for the sake of filling the vacant housing stock. He did not become a Section 8 landlord until that injection of new vouchers in the city.
Mr. Gose, the city didn't ACCEPT 888 Section 8 Vouchers....Mr. Kohler REQUESTED 888 Section 8 Vouchers

“People like me saw that was an opportunity,” Gose said. “The money was easy to get and the money was there, and entrepreneurs like me took advantage of that.”

The program receives about $10 million, and if the vouchers are reduced will cut the program funding by about 60 percent. So far this year, the city has received about $2.1 million through March 14, and about $2 million went out as housing assistance payments. The remainder of the money, about $136,000, has been split between the city and Nelson & Associates.

Gose thinks the city is “doing the right thing,” even though the enforcement is costing him additional money — anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars a year.

“That’s a good thing,” Gose said. “That frustrates my fellow landlords. I don’t like spending any more than I have to, but the rules are what they are. But as a citizen, I support what they’re doing.”

Gose said he understands why some landlords feel things were better under Consoc Housing Consultants, the former administrator of the program, but he disagrees
I do not know why you seem to be using CONSOC as the whipping post for the past failures of this program. This was clearly a total failure of Mr. Kohler's office for NOT enforcing the rules of the program.

“It was just there. Nobody administrated the program,” Gose said.
WHAT....We paid Mr. Kohler big bucks to over see this program and all he did was walk his big pay check to the bank..

The Section 8 program was created by Congress in the 1970s to expand housing options for low-income families, disabled people and the elderly. The vouchers can be used anywhere and cover most and sometimes all of the fair-market rent for a house or apartment. It’s HUD’s largest program serving more than 2 million households nationwide with a budget of $18 billion.

The term “Section 8” is used because the federal law, which created the program is found in Section 8 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974.