Drug Using Tenant Gets Transfered NOT Terminated

After being served with an eviction notice, the tenant complained to the Ogden Housing Authority, that she was being singled out and held to a different set of standards than the other tenants, by enforcing the terms of her lease and requiring her to follow the same set of rules that everyone else has to follow.

To address her complaints, the Ogden Housing Authority advised her to apply for a transfer to another property on the same HUD Program, A check of the Ogden Housing Authority's records will show that the tenant applied for a transfer, the same day the 30-day notice was served.

At the same time, in an attempt to stop, or at least slow down the eviction process and buy enough time for the transfer to be processed and a unit at another property to become available, the Ogden Housing Authority purposely mis-quoted HUD's rule on terminating for violations of the lease.  In an  email I received from Robeka Sessions at Ogden Housing (above), I was incorrectly told that I could only evict  for, "serious and repeated violations of the lease." 

I received a letter from the tenant, begging me for more time to find an apartment. In the letter, she also stated that she had applied with Ogden Housing for a transfer to another building back in September  - not coincidently, on the same day her first 30-day Notice was served.

What she was really begging for, was more time for a unit to become available in the building the Ogden Housing Authority had always planned on transferring her to. 

Knowing that she was being evicted for habitually violating the terms of her lease, the Ogden Housing Authority advised this tenant to apply for a transfer, rather than terminating her per Program rules..

When she was subsequently evicted for illegal drug activity, the Ogden Housing Authority went ahead with the transfer, rather than terminating her from the Program, as required.

The correct verbiage is, 
"for serious AND/OR repeated violations of the lease."

The tenant was being evicted for habitually violating the terms of her lease and House Rules, but after making several attempts at obtaining a clarification from the Ogden Housing Authority and not being able to get a straight answer from them, I chose to rescind the eviction to protect myself, knowing that it would only be a matter of time before she did something else that would subject her to being evicted.... and I didn't have to wait very long.

_______________________________________________

On the night of December 26, the tenant and her son were invited to a post Christmas party in the unit of another tenant.  A short time later, my manager and I both received phone calls from other tenants in the building, complaining about the smell of marijuana in the hallways that was coming from the unit where the party was being held. After questioning the tenant who hosted the party, he denied being the one who was smoking marijuana, but refused to identify the person(s) who were, and was served with a 30-day notice to vacate for illegal drug activity on the premises.

Several days went by, before he decided that he didn't want to lose his housing assistance because of something somebody else did, and chose to identify the person who was smoking marijuana, hoping that I would cancel his eviction. Which I did.

The persons he identified as the ones smoking marijuana were this tenant and her son, who were promptly served with an eviction notice that would stick this time, for drug activity on the premises.

Program rules dictate that a landlord may evict a tenant if he suspects that the tenant is involved in illegal drug activity. HUD rules dictate that a tenant with a documented history of illegal drug activity on the premises shall be terminated from the Program and become ineligible for assistance in the future.

Rather than immediately terminating the tenant from the Program, the Ogden Housing Authority let the eviction process play out and then helped her negotiate for more time to vacate her unit.

Although "illegal drug activity" was listed on the 30-day notice as the reason for the eviction, and several tenants provided written statements that supported the action, including the host of the December 26, party where the drug activity occurred, the Ogden Housing Authority chose not to terminate her from the Program, in violation of HUD rules. Instead, the Ogden Housing Authority  transferred her to another property on the same HUD Program, despite her documented history of illegal drug activity.

WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?

As mentioned in the previous post, this tenant was an informant for the Ogden Housing Authority, keeping them informed about everything that went on at my building and frequently making things up when she had nothing else, so she always had something good to share. In turn, the Ogden Housing Authority would contact me with questions about the information they had been given, but always refused to identify its source.

When we began to suspect that this tenant was the OHA's informant, my manager and I decided to test our theory, by leaking some juicy, but false information to her and only her. Within hours, the Ogden Housing Authority was on the phone to me with question about that same, phony information... Case closed.

Evidently, in recognition for her many months of providing false information to them, the Ogden Housing Authority decided to reward this tenant, by transferring her to another subsidized property on the same HUD Program, rather than terminating her as they wre required to..

STICKING IT TO THE LANDLORD

Undoubtedly, this tenant was thrilled to be moving into a new apartment, after thoroughly trashing her apartment in my building. This slideshow (right) documents the condition of her unit when she moved out.

Upon filing a claim for excessive unit damages, the Ogden Housing Authority held a mediation hearing to determine the extent of her liability .  Of course, when she pulled out the old, "It was like that when I moved in" routine, the Ogden Housing Authority disallowed much of the damages, even though it was evident to everyone in the room that she was lying through her teeth, including her attorney, who asked her to leave the room several times, due to her emotional outbursts.

ADDING INSULT TO INJURY

Facebook message from an acquaintance of this tenant
who clearly recognized that someone should be held accountable
...it's sad that Ogden Housing couldn't see that 

After determining the extent of the unit damages she was liable for, and putting a dollar amount on them, the tenant promptly declared that she couldn't afford it, and wouldn't pay for the damages, even if she could, at which point, the Ogden Housing Authority offered to front her the money to pay for her damages, effectively footing the bill while this tenant who was evicted, with a documented history of illegal drug use, and caused several thousand dollars in damages to her unit, moved into a new apartment at another building on the same HUD Program... Presumably, to do it all over again.

 YOUR TAX DOLLARS HARD AT WORK 

TALES FROM THE IRONIC FILES

During his subsequent eviction the following year, the tenant who did the right thing and identified this tenant and her son as the ones who were smoking marijuana, but was not smoking it himself, was terminated from the housing assistance program by the Ogden Housing Authority, citing illegal drug activity. Meanwhile, this tenant, with a documented history of illegal drug use that is supported by written statements from several other tenants, was transferred to a new apartment at another building, in violation of HUD rules, and her drug activity was never even mentioned in her file.

It's clear that the Ogden Housing Authority 
bends and twists the rules any which way that suits them

... if they follow the rules at all   .  

Consistently Inconsistemnt

and Totally Corrupt