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Introduction of the New City Manager |
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over the hill
MUSA Citizen Joined: Oct 19 2012 Location: middletown Status: Offline Points: 952 |
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Acclaro: the number of vouchers will remain the same in Middletown (1662) the city will no longer have control over the program and they will no longer get the HUD money they were getting to run the program. They also will be missing some other HUD money in the form of CDBG NSP funds. You know the ones they like to move around to use else where for other projects.so no I wouldn't call it a win because you didn't reduce the number of vouchers and you also lost all the extra HUD money. So no Ms. Judy and Dougie failed. But then again he can always spin it to them about how much more he can do. Remember when he told council "we haven't done any thing wrong" "they have to charge us with something" No Dougie you're wrong ,they told you you were "not in compliance " that means you're not doing the right thing. That's how HUD WORKS. If you are to stupid to figure that out... But then he's not stupid that how he spun it to council and they bought it. IMO
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acclaro
Prominent MUSA Citizen Joined: Jul 01 2009 Status: Offline Points: 1878 |
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So, with new admin, that already exists, Adkins will need a job. So...he will get city manager.
New boss.....same as old boss. |
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'An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.' - Winston Churchill
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Perplexed
MUSA Citizen Joined: Apr 22 2009 Status: Offline Points: 315 |
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How does anyone in their right mind conclude that the transfer of the HUD Housing Choice Voucher Program to the Butler Metropolitan Housing Authority would be a feather in the cap of a Community Revitalization Department staff member? The units to be transferred to BHMA is 1662, or, the current number administered by Middletown Public Housing Authority. What makes anyone think that non-Middletown segments of Warren and Butler Counties will clamor for Section 8 units to be transferred there? And, what about the 10% of HCV funds that is earmarked for administrative purposes? Yes, there are likely less than $150,000 in funds utilized by the city. And, what about the funds paid to Nelson Associates, etc., etc. Please be advised that there's much, much more than $150,000+/- involved to set the record straight. It's illogical for anyone to presume that the transfer of the Section 8 program is something to be considered favorable for one current city staff candidate for City Manager.
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AKBobby
MUSA Resident Joined: May 18 2009 Location: Middletown, OH Status: Offline Points: 103 |
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Agreed with most of what you said but there are many people who work for the city who have their master degrees. Some are in fire and police and some are spread throughout the city building. Doesn't make them good candidates for CM. But I do agree with the experience factor. Personally I think all five candidates are weak. Maybe they should reopen the whole thing.
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AK - What is going on with that?
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Vivian Moon
MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187 |
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Yes sir, City Hall said they only get about $150,000
for the Section 8 Program… |
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Vivian Moon
MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187 |
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Perplexed |
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Vivian Moon
MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187 |
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Wait, wait…do you hear that strange noise…That
big sucking sound is all those HUD Funds leaving the City of Middletown coffer’s. |
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acclaro
Prominent MUSA Citizen Joined: Jul 01 2009 Status: Offline Points: 1878 |
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I am sorry....but I am totally confused.
It was stated there is pending investigation and an open audit by HUD which prevents any information from being available from the HUD audit, and yet there are statements made about an outcome, non published to date, about 1662 vouchers which will remain and transfer to the current program out of Middletown to two county programs. How was that decision determined? HUD or the city? Secondly, I have read Marty Kohler and Dr. Price worked in tandem to raise HUD Section 8 vouchers; the same vouchers Nancy Nix, Noah Powers, Tony Marconi, others, denies, or all sitting council a few years ago but Marty Kohler still works for the city and the levy nearly passed, when many claim it was the vouchers that undermioed MCSD performance. Why was Marty Kohler not fired? Thirdly, I have not heard anyone on council state the voucher transfer was coming forth. Fourthly, if all is true, you would agree Doug Adkins will not be offered a position in either of the two counties in all probability, sime they have county administration, so the very fact Doug Adkins is a finalist for city manager shows that council doesn't think he did something wrong, or they are not aware these vouchers are being transferred for administration? And, as importantly, if they know, they think he needs a job.....isn't it true they will likely give him a job as city manager? |
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'An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.' - Winston Churchill
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Vivian Moon
MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187 |
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I am
sorry....but I am totally confused. |
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Perplexed
MUSA Citizen Joined: Apr 22 2009 Status: Offline Points: 315 |
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Most people don't know this, but, nearly $500,000 of CDBG funds were spent prior to 2007 for the demolition of the Maple Park and Amanda schools. Kohler and Dr. Price worked very closely together on these neighborhood revitalization (??) projects. Those two were good buddies!
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Vivian Moon
MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187 |
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Perplexed |
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Vivian Moon
MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187 |
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“The city suffers from an overabundance of rental property, beyond what the existing market can support and a corresponding lack of home ownership in distressed neighborhoods,” Adkins said. “During the past 10 years, the city implemented a policy of increasing the number of Section 8 vouchers to assist low-income residents.” Before The city added 888 over the next six years, with 56.9 percent of the vouchers having been added in 2000 and 2001. The last increase came on |
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over the hill
MUSA Citizen Joined: Oct 19 2012 Location: middletown Status: Offline Points: 952 |
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acclaro: I have to clarifiy a statement I made earlier in which I posted "if you are too stupid to figure that out" I was ofcourse referring to Doug NOT you.I did not want you to think that was directed toward you. Sometimes you post something how you are thinking put in print it looks much different.
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acclaro
Prominent MUSA Citizen Joined: Jul 01 2009 Status: Offline Points: 1878 |
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Perhaps someone will inform Ms. Howington the city is mandated to hire Doug Adkins because he can't reveal what occurred with HUD and needs to be under legal cover by the city of Middletown. What a shame the best candidate can't be hired.
Howington, Jane
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'An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.' - Winston Churchill
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Vivian Moon
MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187 |
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Ooops…Acclaro |
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acclaro
Prominent MUSA Citizen Joined: Jul 01 2009 Status: Offline Points: 1878 |
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There is much about the city and the section 8 mess I admit, I don't have specific details.
But, this, I do know. I watched Marty Kohler tell city council how rapid and how escalated the HUD section 8 vouchers were. I know as fact, he was asked, who approved the elevation. It is fact, he stated to them, "they did." It is a fact they denied ever knowing of the increase. It is a fact, when new council was put in place, they wanted the vouchers reduced, to undo, what Mr. Kohler had done. That led to the battle with HUD and what has appeared to be an audit that has been quiet and not been mentioned by council, in nearly nine months. It is a fact Mr. Kohler was not reprimanded, and remains employed. Many ask a simple question. What does it take to be terminated by the city of Middletown? Council denied knowing there was an increase, new council attempts to cut the unwanted vouchers back to a previous level. Call me wrong....but I surmise 9 out 10 residents would say something is wrong with this picture purely on these simple facts. Last question. Who handles the HUD appeal? HUD, or DOJ? The elevation in HUD section 8, for purposes no opne on council can explain, nor Mr. Kohler, has done great harm to crime, property values, MCSD performance, and the city's reputation. And no one has been terminated. Has there been a conductor on this train in two generations....it appears not. |
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'An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.' - Winston Churchill
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Vivian Moon
MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187 |
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Council weighs options for response to HUD
Staff Writer “You’re
at no risk right this minute,” Adkins told Adkins presented council members with five
options for responding to a Dec. 21 letter the city received from HUD about its
plan to cut Section 8 vouchers. In the letter, HUD officials told city
officials that they needed to either fill Adkins told council he disagreed with
characterizations of HUD’s letter as being “strongly worded.” He said he
thought the letter was “diplomatically written” given each side’s differing
point of view on the matter. “No fair housing or civil rights threats
were made, no regulatory violations were cited,” said Adkins, a former attorney
with the U.S. Labor Department. “We have been politely asked if we would like
to walk away and give our program to Adkins said there is nothing in HUD’s
regulations that says Still, Adkins said city staff would
research and make a detailed presentation to council in two weeks about five
ways they could respond to HUD’s letter. The options include: ·
Transferring the program to BMHA as requested. Adkins said while
it gets the city out of the public housing business and attention can be
redirected to other issues, the city would “lose all the controls and
safeguards that we have built into the program over the last three years and
the vouchers will continue to stay concentrated in ·
Negotiating a transfer the program with conditions. BMHA would
take over the program with the city’s standards, which includes honoring the
city’s barred landlord list and adopting rent usefulness and payment standards
to de-concentrate high poverty census tracts. ·
Transferring just the 1,008 vouchers to BMHA and continuing MPHA
operations with the proposed 654 vouchers. ·
Keeping vouchers and negotiating to reduce other subsidized
housing units, though Adkins said this option is the least likely HUD would
consider. ·
To “politely decline” and move forward with what the city has
proposed. The city must respond to HUD’s letter by
Jan. 31, however, Adkins told council he has asked for an extension until March
so that the city could thoroughly review its options. The
proposal city leaders sent to HUD, which was approved by the Middletown Public
Housing Agency on Oct. 16, reduces the city’s total subsidize housing to 10
percent of the city’s total housing stock. It also places the city in
compliance for HUD regulations to have 95 percent of its vouchers filled. With
more than 1,600 vouchers issued, the city only had about 82 percent of them
filled. Staff proposed and the MPHA board, which
consists of all seven members of city council, approved the plan to reduce the
vouchers to 654 and transfer the remaining 1,008 vouchers to another housing
authority or back to HUD. Jeff Faulkner, of Faulkner has sued the city in small claims
court on Dec. 28 for boarding up his rental property at “This
program now is getting a bad reputation of not being landlord friendly,”
Faulkner said. “It’s all about the landlords. We’re the vendors, we’re the ones
that own the homes, we make them available for people who need them.” Councilman Joshua Laubach assured Faulkner
that council wasn’t “unfairly going after or targeting landlords or Section 8
owners.” Laubach said the city’s plan is about maintaining local control of how
But other council members
expressed concerns about challenging HUD. “My
concern is the same as the vice mayor’s, that we run the risk of losing a lot
of what we built over the last three years that I’ve been here,” Councilman A.
J. Smith said. If HUD comes back and says the city did
violate some regulation, Adkins said City Council will have time to regroup and
reassess its position because “they have to cite us with something, they have
to find that we have broken something.” Then they have to allow the city to
have an action plan to regain compliance.
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Vivian Moon
MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187 |
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Acclaro Under the Freedom of Information Act I'm requesting copies the following documents: Kyle I would like copies of the original documents with signatures of any and all request for increases in vouchers concerning the Section 8 program for Middletown, Ohio between 2000 - 2006. Thank you Vivian Moon |
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Paul Nagy
MUSA Citizen Joined: Jan 11 2009 Status: Offline Points: 384 |
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Acclaro,
I'm sorry to say your assessment regarding Doug Adkins being appointed City manager is correct. In spite of the fact he and his boss have negatively impacted thousands of citizens Council is going to appoint him. If Council does this, and I have good reason to believe they will, then Council will demonstrate great irresponsibility toward their constituency and should have to be held accountable. We will be going down the wrong path again. When all is said and done Council must understand he is a prosecutor and thinks and acts like a prosecutor and he should go back to being a prosecutor. He cannot communicate with the general public like a profesional administrator. He certainly is NOT qualified to be a City Manager. I appeal to council to take more applications, spend a little more money if necessary, but get the right person. As Ken Cohen suggested, "Don't settle." Who in teh world got up such alist and tehn made a short list like this? It is a joke. This is vitally important at this time. Its not too late. We can and must turn the city into a more positive direction. We have the talent and can create the opportunities in this city to do it. Paul Nagy |
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Vivian Moon
MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187 |
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I
watched Marty Kohler tell city council how rapid and how escalated the HUD
section 8 vouchers were. I know as fact, he was asked, who approved the
elevation. It is fact, he stated to them, "they did." It is a fact
they denied ever knowing of the increase. |
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over the hill
MUSA Citizen Joined: Oct 19 2012 Location: middletown Status: Offline Points: 952 |
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We don't even have to look at the number of vouchers Marty brought in.Lets just look at the number of businesses Marty single handedly has caused to decline to move to our city. He doesn't return phone calls, he refuses to consider zoning changes. Doug threw the city under the bus saying our zoning laws are antiquated and should be changed ..Why has Marty not done that? Would that be dereliction of duty? It would be in OUR world and WE would be dismissed. They say it cost money and the city doesn't have it. But we do for other projects. You would think it would be top priority to be working off of current law. So maybe that goes back to Les. The point is Marty has been a detriment to the city but there he sits drawing a nice salary. IMO
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acclaro
Prominent MUSA Citizen Joined: Jul 01 2009 Status: Offline Points: 1878 |
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Connecting the dots.
As the story concludes, Adkins is needed as a witness on the appeal. It is better to have one on payroll that supports the city, than one hostile as a witness. In turn....he gets city manager, not on accomplishment, not on experience..... but because he may need a job as the feds paid some of his salary (I thought associated with NSP and the like), and they know it is better to have him in the camp, than out. But, no surprise. I mean, Marty Kohler who brought in double the vouchers no one has indicated they approved and knew of the addition, which has been the thrust of the reduction, is employed. Adkins gets a promotion. What are lessons learned? When working for the city, it is wise to live next door, or on the same street, as your city council members. It promotes job security. |
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'An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.' - Winston Churchill
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Perplexed
MUSA Citizen Joined: Apr 22 2009 Status: Offline Points: 315 |
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Acclaro -
Much of the Community Revitalization Dept. administrative funds, presuming Section 8 Administrative funding is transferred to BMHA, are HUD-based (Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) plus the Home Investment Partnerships (HOME) programs). As noted previously, CDBG is already administratively top-heavy while HOME only allows roughly 10% of the grant ($40,000+/-). Something has to give. |
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Vivian Moon
MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187 |
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HUD to In a two-page letter sent to city officials
on Dec. 18, Shawn Sweet, the director of HUD’s Cleveland Hub Office of Public
Housing, wrote that filling the available vouchers “would forestall the need to
explore the contentious legal issues that will inevitably arise should the city
proceed” with trying to eliminate them. Sweet also suggested that if “As
you may be aware, responsibility for administering Section 8 Housing Choice
Vouchers assistance in Sweet said the BMHA “would seem to be in a
superior position” to serve participating families concerning all housing
options available in the region. He added that HUD has already had “preliminary
discussions” with BMHA, which “has expressed a willingness to assume
responsibility for the city’s current (Section 8 voucher) allocation.” Officials with the BMHA could not be
reached for comment. A response to HUD’s letter is due Jan. 31
and most City Council members have said they will wait for recommendations on
how to respond from city administrators. Councilman A.J. Smith, however, said
Friday that the city should “back off” or risk losing HUD funding, including
the $1 million Section 108 loan Middletown Community Revitalization
Director Doug Adkins, who authored the city’s proposal to HUD, said in October
that he doesn’t believe the city’s plan violates any of the federal housing
agency’s regulations. He said in order for City Manager Judy Gilleland and Adkins will
present options at Tuesday’s council meeting, but a “more robust” discussion
will happen at the Middletown Public Housing Authority meeting on Jan. 22,
before council’s business meeting, according to emails from Gilleland to
council members. Gilleland and Adkins declined comment until after Tuesday’s
presentation. Many
council members said they were not surprised by the strong HUD response. “We knew this wasn’t going to be easy,”
said Councilwoman Ann Mort. “We had expected to negotiate, which is what we’re
looking for. We have far more (vouchers) than other places in the county and
we’ve been saying this for a long time.” Councilman Joe Mulligan said he was
“disappointed that they didn’t recognize so many of the concerns that Doug
Adkins and his department laid out in the report.” “I don’t think the three options that they
gave will help us with our efforts to re-balance the economic makeup of our
housing,” Mulligan said. The letter said Sweet and the agency
“disagree(s) with the argument that eliminating this affordable housing
resource for needy “[T]his perception by the city cannot be
used to justify departures from statutory, regulatory and other clearly
established policy requirements,” Sweet wrote. “We would be gravely concerned
in that regard if the city were to permit its utilization rate to precipitously
fall as would be the case if vouchers are not reissued when families exit the
program.” Adkins said in October the goals of the
program aren’t being achieved in a city that has seen a rise in poverty,
decline in population and a housing stock with more than 3,000 dilapidated
homes. The city has about 500 Section 8 landlords with about 1,400 Section 8
properties. According to the proposal, the 1,662
Section 8 vouchers equals 49.8 percent of all subsidized housing in Middletown
and 14.3 percent of all available housing in the city. The goal is to reduce
all subsidize housing — which includes programs offered by the Butler Metro
Public Housing Agency, HUD directly and
the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit — to 10 percent of all available housing in
the city. The Middletown Journal has been following
this story since it was first reported in October, and will continue to inform
our readers of future developments. Here’s
how many Section 8 vouchers the city’s housing authority controls compared to
others in the area, and the jurisdiction’s population: Source: City of In 1999, the city had 774 Section 8
vouchers, which is 120 than being proposed the city cut down to. Here’s how the
city acquired 888 more vouchers from 1999 to 2005:
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Vivian Moon
MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187 |
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Posted: Housing expert says city is ‘playing with
fire’
Section 8’s watershed
moment with HUD will play a part in determining the city’s future
Staff Writer City officials plan to eliminate 1,008
Section 8 vouchers through attrition in the next five years. They say The Middletown Public Housing Authority
presented the plan to HUD back in October, but it has encountered some
resistance from the federal housing agency. HUD has told But city officials recently sent HUD a
letter refusing to back down from their position. HUD spokeswoman Donna White confirmed the
agency is reviewing the city’s letter, but would not indicate when or how it
might respond. Elizabeth Brown, executive director of
Housing Opportunities Made Equal, a Cincinnati-based housing rights
organization, said Brown said for years “They were serving their residents. They
had a need in the community, and they had been meeting the need,” Brown said.
“That’s not a negative thing to say they’re successful (serving low-income
families).” Brown said HUD has the
ability to cut off all of its Community Development Block Grant funds if the
agency believes She said she has talked with HUD after
hearing about the city’s plans and that the agency is “extremely upset with “To me the simplest thing is, if the city
does not want to be in the business, they should simply turn the program over
to the BMHA, and let them run it for the entire county,” Brown said. “It would
be a fair process throughout the county, and it gets the city out of the middle
of it.” Phyllis Hitte, director of BMHA, said she
would have no comment on BMHA currently administers 1,111 Section 8
vouchers and about 300 portable vouchers, which are vouchers assigned to other
public housing agencies. Hitte said BMHA has a 4,000-family waiting list based
on applications filled out nearly three years ago. But Doug Adkins, the city’s community
revitalization director, said because there is a significant poverty rate in “Our poverty rate is over 20 percent, and
we have a portion of our population that, due to age or personal circumstances,
cannot fully provide for themselves,” Adkins said. “Two examples would be low,
fixed-income seniors and disabled residents.” Ignoring the needs of those residents when
federal funds and programs are available “would lower those residents quality
of life and place additional burdens on city resources to fill those unmet
needs.” “The harder part is finding the balance
between helping the disadvantaged without hurting the remaining residents
through loss of the income and property tax base and the ability to provide
core city services,” Adkins said.’’ A 2005 staff report on the moratorium
stated: “A major concern expressed in the master plan is the trend towards
higher renter occupancy in formerly owner-occupied neighborhoods. This trend
has been coupled with disinvestment in the same neighborhoods.” Butler County Treasurer Nancy Nix, who
served on Middletown City Council when the moratorium was introduced, said it’s
“anybody’s guess” what will happen if “I hope that (HUD) would understand that we
are out of balance and let us reduce it to a reasonable amount,” Nix said.
“There is no reason that But critics of the city’s plan say
eliminating the vouchers could create more problems than it solves. Cutting the
vouchers would pull an estimated $6 million out of the local economy in funds
paid to the city’s 400 Section 8 landlords. It could potentially create more
than 1,000 new residential vacancies and displace more than 1,000 low-income
families. “The program participants, for the most
part, are people who have lived in the city for generations and generations,”
Brown said. “And why should people who have lived in Miami University Oxford professor Dennis
Sullivan, whose expertise is in poverty, public and urban economics, said he
has not heard of any public housing agency attempting to reduce vouchers.
Typically, you hear of communities needing more, he said. Sullivan said “I think it’s a very telling thing that so
much of “Generally, cities are suffering, having
hard times economically,” Spring said. “Often times, the people that get blamed
are the people at the brunt of the issues, the ones in poverty. (Governments)
say if those people just weren’t here, then we’d prosper. “The people who use Section 8 are likely
people who’ve lived there for generations,” he continued. “It’s a question of
whether Section 8 allows people to move out of
blighted areas and gives them a hand up and a chance to become productive
citizens, Sullivan said. “People are concerned that Section 8 will
be a vector that carries blight like a disease,” Sullivan said. “That doesn’t
mean that’s the case.” Brown
said “That’s where their time and energy should
be,” she said. This is the third of a three-part series
looking at the past, present and future of Section 8 in How
this program moves beyond this conflict with the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development regarding the future of the city’s Section 8 program will
play a role in how the city is shaped in the future. The Journal will continue
its in-depth coverage on this program. Visit
us online at Facebook.com/MiddletownJournal and join our conversation about
Section 8 housing in ·
9.7 percent: ·
5.1 percent: ·
1.7 percent: ·
1.5 percent: ·
0.8 percent: ·
0.3 percent: Here’s
a list of the top five public houisng agencies in the state (number of Section
8 vouchers in parentheses): ·
9.7 percent: ·
8.5 percent: ·
5.7 percent: ·
5.2 percent: ·
5.2 percent: ·
State average: 2.6 percent *Includes
cities of Source: City of
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