So.... You Don't Think the OHA is Corrupt?

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Facebook message from one of my tenants,
asking for my thoughts on her accepting a loan from the 
Ogden Housing Authority to pay her security deposit.

In their mad rush to terminate my Housing Assistance Contract with HUD and get my building off their books and me off their backs once and for all, the Ogden Housing Authority overlooked some very important factors... MY TENANTS. 

Not to suggest that my tenants are especially important to anyone at the Ogden Housing Authority, but they are important to me, and seeing them get mistreated and taken advantage of, by the people at the Ogden Housing Authority, was particularly disturbing to me.

On January 8, 2015, the Ogden Housing Authority held a meeting with my tenants, during which they were pressured into leaving the assistance program they were currently on, in exchange for receiving Housing Vouchers. In fact, they were told that if they did not accept the voucher, they would be dropped from the program and lose their housing assistance. Put that way, it's a hard offer to refuse.

My tenant's were participants in the HUD-Moderate Rehabilitation Program, which offers very-low to no-income families the ability to obtain housing, by requiring minimal security deposits (as low as $50) and reduced tenant paid rents (also as low as $50/mo). The Program also covers the cost of  the tenant's utilities, which, under the contract, are paid for by the landlord and included in the tenant's lease.  The Housing Vouchers that my tenants were offered, do not provide for any of these.

To address these issues, the Ogden Housing Authority came up with some fairly inappropriate workarounds for my tenants

Sad But True
Note who my tenants turn to for advice when they are confused.
That should tell you a lot about the Ogden Housng Authority
and the relationships they maintain with their clients. 

Security Deposits:
Because my income restricted tenants would now be required to pay the full security deposit at their new housing, they asked the Ogden Housing Authority how they were expected to come up with that money.

In response,  Ogden Housing generously offered to pay their security deposits to get them into other housing... with another Housing Authority's money. A nice enough offer, until they told the tenant's that it would only be a loan which they would have to pay back in installments.  The Ogden Housing Authority also told the tenants that they had a little money to help with their deposits, but they were so ill prepared to address this issue, that they didn't even know how much money they had for it.

THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY THEIR OWN AGENCY HAS? 

I don't work for the Ogden Housing Authority and I have no idea what their books look like, but considering that almost none of my tenants had found other housing on the day my contract was terminated and had to remain in their units for another month or more, I can say with some reasonable certainty, that the Ogden Housing Authority had somewhere in the neighborhood of $9,000 to work with, on top of any other money they had, since they stuck me with the cost of the tenant's rent and utilities for the month of February.

Utilities:
When my tenant's asked how they were supposed to pay for their utilities each month, the Ogden Housing Authority advised them that there were programs to help low income families with the cost of their utilities... but they couldn't guarantee them that assistance.

When my tenants asked them how much time they had to move, the Ogden Housing Authority led them to believe they had 60-days, when they actually had only 23. What they meant to say, was that the vouchers were good for 60-days, but they still had to move out of my building by January 31.  When I notified Ogden Housing that my tenants had gotten the wrong impression from them, they never even bothered to contact the tenant's and clarify themselves.

Obtaining a Lease:
The Ogden Housing Authority never considered the possibility that these low-income families might not have sufficient credit, or have bad credit issues that would prevent them from qualifying for a lease at a non-subsidized property. The Ogden Housing Authority just told them to go out and find other housing and then turned their backs on them.

Tenants Abandoned by OHA:
On January 31,  when the assistance contract ended, more than half of the families had not yet found other housing and had no place to go. The Ogden Housing Authority just abandoned them on my doorstep and expected me to either pay for their rent and utilities, or evict them for not being able to pay the full rent amount... Evict them for being victims of the OHA's corruption? ... I'm not sure that would actually fly in court.

OHA Corruption:
My tenants did not do anything wrong, and yet they are being punished. They had a contract with Ogden Housing to provide them with benefits that they are now being denied. They were forced to move out of the homes they loved and take on additional expenses that they did not ask for and can not afford, for no other reason than to terminate my asistance contract with HUD.

The Ogden Housing Authority doesn't like the fact that in the past, I have filed complaints against them with HUD when I discovered that they had made serious departures from HUD rules, which ultimately cost me a lot of money.

They also don't like the fact that I publish documentation of their indiscretions and misconduct on sites like this blog and on Facebook for everyone else to see. In fact, the Ogden Housing Authority told several of my tenants that the reason they were terminating my assistance contract with HUD, was because the were, 'sick of the things I had posted about them online.'

Sick.... or Afraid of it? 

The Ogden Housing Authority has serious abuse of power issues. In fact, over the last 5-years, we have not had a single tenant move into the buildng who hasn't made the exact comment:

The woman they are referring to, is "Housing Specialist" Robeka Sessions.  When people who have never met, make the same comment about a particular person, there's usually a good reason for it.

My own experiences with Robeka have not been dissimilar. Like my tenants, I also find her to be a rude, arrogant and angry woman, who would likely have trouble doing anything in life, without getting the directions from the HUD Manual first. I also find Robeka to be the most consistent part of the Ogden Housing Authority's inconsistency, inasmuch as she frequently provides wrong information, or information that contradicts information she had previously given me, and what she doesn't know, she either makes up or lies about, (i.e. Telling me for 2-yeas that there was no provision for filing a claim for excessive unit damages) 

Early on, the Ogden Housing Authority threatened to terminate my contract with HUD, because I was using the same lease that my previous management company had been using for 4-years, which had been disapproved by the OHA.  When I contacted HUD's Denver Field Office on the matter, they told me that they have a serious abuse of power problem, with many housing authorities across the country. In fact, HUD told me that the problem is so wide spread that they can't do anything to stop it.

The Ogden Housing Authority routinely disregards, manipulates, or selectively enforces HUD rules and policy to fit their own needs and agenda, particularly in their dealings with Kier Management, who clearly operates under a completely different set of rules, than what other property owners and managers are required to operate under, with the knowledge (and apparent approval) of the Ogden Housing Authority.

To say that the Ogden Housing Authority is corrupt across the board, would be unfair, because I don't know that they are. I only have knowledge, documentation and evidence of their corruption and misconduct, as it relates to myself, my property, and Kier's mismanagement of it, but generally, where there's smoke, there's fire, and in the case of the Ogden Housing Authority's termination of my contract with HUD, there's a lot of smoke.  

For at least 5-years (and as many as 9-years), the Ogden Housing Authority has permitted tenants to live in my building, under the exact same conditions that they terminated my assistance contract over.  The damage is no worse today, than it was 5-years ago when I took the building over from Kier Management, who, through their neglect and failure to maintain the property as contracted, caused the damage to occur...  but who would cite a buddy for their deficiencies?   

The pictures below were taken on December 1, 2009 and show the dry rot damage that the Ogden Housing Authority terminated my contract with HUD over.  The damage occurred sometime between 2005 and 2009 while the building was in the care of Kier Management. During that time, OHA/HUD Inspectors were at the property at least 29 times that can be confirmed, so there is absolutely no question that Ogden Housing Authority was aware of the damage.... because they sat quietly by and watched it happen and did nothing to address the issue with Kier Management .

The damage is no worse today than it was in 2009, which at that time, was already well outside of HUD's de-minimis or 'trivial' level guidelines.  For the 5-years between 2009 and 2014, the Ogden Housing Authority had no problem allowing tenants to live in the building, or with paying their rent, yet in 2014, making the repairs became such a dire matter for the Ogden Housing Authority, that after 5-8years without so much as a mention, they were suddenly compelled to stop paying the rents and then terminate my assistance contract for not being able to afford the repairs, rather than allowing me a few extra months to make them?  

 WHO THINKS THAT MAKES SENSE? 

THE OHA  DID NOT WANT THE REPAIRS TO BE MADE 

When the Ogden Housing Authority saw an opportunity to terminate my contract with HUD, they jumped on it like a pack of rabid dogs, first requiring me to make costly repairs that were impossible to make at that time of year, then doing everything in their power to cut off my only source of income, and prevent any future income from coming in, while causing me needless additional expenses, knowing that without income, there would be no possible way for me to make the repairs.

BUT WHY? 

The Ogden Housing Authority was acutely aware of the high cost of making these particular repairs. In fact, they even shared their knowledge of it with my tenants at a January 8, 2015 meeting, going as far as inferring that I didn't want to make the repairs, because of the cost.

For 5-months, the Ogden Housing Authority prevented me from re-renting my vacant units;

For 8-months, they stopped paying the rent on 4-other units, but required me to let the tenants remain living in those units and continue to pay for their utilities and absorb the loss in rent.

They also required me to have the building inspected, by an inspector that they obtained for me, which was both expensive and unnecessary. In fact, the Ogden Housing Authority kept so busy with their plan to terminate my contract, the thought of what to do with my tenants after the fact, apparently never crossed their minds.

For the Ogden Housing Authority to infer that I didn't make the repairs, because I didn't want to spend the money, is not only offensive, it is also untrue.  The reason the repairs were not made, is because the Ogden Housing Authority knowingly cut off my only source of income, so I couldn't make them.... so they could terminate my contract.

DESPERATION

The Ogden Housing Authority was so desperate to terminate my contract, they forced my tenants off of the program they were on, and onto a program they don't have enough funding for. Brilliant!  The Tweet below was sent out by HUD's Denver field office on April 9, 2015.  I wonder how long it will take for HUD to revoke the housing vouchers they gave my tenants, leaving them high and dry?

Your Tax Dollars Hard At Work

     

                                                            

   

Please take a moment and use the Twitter Feeds below to tell HUD what you think about the Ogden Housing Authority's mistreatment of these people

HUD-Office of Inspector GeneraL: @HUDOIG       HUD-Denver Field Office: @HUDRockyMtns 

Tweets by @HUDOIG Tweets by @HUDRockyMtns

  You can also email HUD's OIG directly at: hotline@hudoig.gov

Remember to reference @Peery_Apts in your Tweet!

In Their Own Words:The OHA Lies Their Way Through A Reporter's Questions

On January 18, 2015, the Standard Examiner published an article about the Ogden Housing Authority's termination of my housing assistance contract with HUD and the displacement of my tenants.

Although they declined to publicly state the reason for terminating my contract in the article, the Ogden Housing Authority's official position for the termination, is because I failed to correct deficiencies relating to exterior paint, in the time they had allotted me.  

However, the real reason (which they disclosed to a number of my tenants), is because, "they were sick of the documentation I was posting about them, on this Blog"... and other online sites, showing that the Ogden Housing Authority has a history of making significant departures from HUD-Program Rules and Requirements in their dealings with Kier Property Management, which ultimately cost me a lot of money.

Obviously, It would be problematic for the Ogden Housing Authority to admit to terminating my contract over documentation I had published online, that could get them into trouble with HUD, so they labeled the reason as, failure to correct deficiencies, but when the facts are weighed against the contradictory statements they made on the subject, it's clear that the Ogden Housing Authority never wanted those corrections to be made, and they did everything they could to make sure that they weren't.

BELOW ARE STATEMENTS THAT THE OGDEN HOUSING AUTHORITY MADE 
IN THE STANDARD EXAMINER NEWSPAPER ARTICLE,
AND THE FACTS BEHIND THOSE STATEMENTS

Statements the Ogden Housing Authority made about the termination of my HUD contract

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

When asked by the reporter, why they were terminating my contract, the Ogden Housing Authority declined to answer, beyond stating that it was for "good reasons". IF that were the case, why not publicly state what that reason is and remove all doubt? ... Unless there was some other reason that you couldn't make public.

It's hard to know what the Ogden Housing Authority actually considers to be a "good reason", but for them to uproot 11-families in the middle of winter and force them to move out of the homes they love, they must have thought they had some pretty good ones....but when asked repeatedly, they wouldn't even tell the tenants what the reason was.

The Ogden Housing Authority's "official" reasoning behind my contract termination, is because I failed to correct some paint related deficiencies along the roofline of the building's exterior, in the time that they had allotted me to correct them.

The concern was that the paint could potentially contain lead

In 1910, when my building was constructed, all house paint contained lead. In fact, prior to it being banned in 1978, every building in the country was painted with paint that contained lead. In Ogden's Historic District, where my building is located, finding a structure that does not contain some degree of lead based paint, would be very unlikely. Going by HUD guidelines, that would make Ogden's Historic District a veritable hot bed of lead and widely unlivable by HUD Standards, yet HUD has made no such declaration about Ogden, or about any other city in America.

HUD's position on lead based paint is that, as it deteriorates and loses adhesion to the surface it was applied to, it leaves behind a layer of dust that contains lead. In higher concentrations, lead exposure can put some people at risk for a variety of health problems, particularly pregnant women and children under 6-years of age. That is not to say that it WILL cause health problems, just that it could.  In the case of deteriorating lead based paint, the higher the degree of deterioration, the higher the potential for lead exposure is.  

To put things into perspective, my building measures just over 17,000 square feet.  

The areas of deteriorating paint measures around 50 square feet.  

That comes out to 0.294 % or less than 1/3 of 1 %

If 1/3 of 1% of deteriorated paint poses such a dire health threat, then why hasn't the U. S. Government declared that every city in America, established before 1978 is a toxic lead hazard that is unfit for people to live in?  Most homes in America built before 1960 contain heavily leaded paint. According to a 2011 study, 87% of homes built before 1940 contain lead paint and there is a 69% chance that if you live in a home that was built between 1940 and 1960, it contains lead paint. Those statistics account for more than 90% of the homes in Ogden's Historic District, but people still live in those homes.

Further limiting their ability to use the term, "health threat" as a viable 'good reason', is the fact that in May 2014, the Ogden Housing Authority stopped paying the rent and utilities on all of my units that had pregnant women or children under six living in them, which are the people in the highest risk groups for lead. The Ogden Housing Authority did not move those families out of the building to protect their health. In fact, they expressly forbid me from asking them to move out and required them to continue paying their portion of the rent.  If the health risk was so great, why would they allow families in the highest risk groups to continue living in the building?

The Peery Apartments is the best kept and cleanest of all the building's in Ogden on the same HUD program. We go well out of our way to ensure that there are no drugs or other crimes taking place on or around the property. We do not rent to felons and our standards are significantly higher than the city's Good Landlord Program requires them to be. We encourage our tenants to get jobs and we help them find jobs if they ask us. We offer our tenants amenities that none of the other buildings on the same HUD program offer, and we make sure that our tenants are in compliance with program rules and requirements at all times, in stark contrast to the  way the building was previously managed and the way others are still managed today, which explains why we routinely have applicants tell us that they are afraid to live in any of the other Mod-Rehab buildings in Ogden, and why our tenants feel safe there. 

It's hard to believe that HUD would terminate the assistance contract at one of the best managed and best kept properties in the city, over needing some extra time to do a little bit of paint repair. It would be easier to believe that the reason the Ogden Housing Authority terminated our assistance contract was because it was just too expensive and they were looking for a way out. It would be even easier to believe that they terminated my contract because of the documentation I have posted online about them... which is what they told my tenants.  

The Ogden Housing Authority has been aware of the deteriorated paint issue at my building for years. In fact, they sat back and watched while the damage occurred,  through the neglect of the building by my former management company.  It's hard to imagine why the Ogden Housing Authority failed to cite the damage when it occurred, or why after 8-years, it suddenly became such a dire matter that they were compelled to terminate my contract rather than allow me the time I needed, to make the repairs when I was able to.

Ogden Housing's statement that they work closely with owners to correct deficiencies, couldn't be further from the truth and is in stark contrast to what the actual facts are.

Page 2

It's anyone's guess, what the Ogden Housing Authority defines as working with an owner, but in  January 2014, immediately after my building failed the HQS Inspection, I contacted the Ogden Housing Authority, in writing, on two separate occasions, with serious questions, but they couldn't even bother to respond to me. Not that I was surprised by it. The Ogden Housing Authority habitually fails to respond to serious inquiries.

I finally had to have my manager corner the OHA inspector when she came out to the building and hand deliver my letter personally. Perhaps my standards are too high, but when an agency you do business with, repeatedly fails to respond and you have to hand deliver your correspondence just to ensure it was received, I don't consider that to be, "working with an owner"

In January 2014, after the paint deficiencies were cited, I began to investigate what would be required to make the repairs. I was advised by several painting contractors that in order to achieve proper adhesion to the substrate, the paint must only be applied when outdoor temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees, information that I also verified with a number of paint manufacturers.

Because January temperatures in Utah are consistently below 50 degrees, I asked Ogden Housing for more time to complete the repairs, and they granted me a 60-day extension, which still placed the date for completion at a time of year when temperatures are largely below 50.

At the same time, the Ogden Housing Authority stopped paying the rent and utilities on three of my units, until the repairs were completed and forbid me from asking those  tenants to move out. The loss of income from those units was $2,500 per month.

I contacted Anita Short at HUD, who in turn, contacted the Ogden Housing Authority, who lied and told HUD that they were not abating any of my units.

The Ogden Housing Authority also started preventing me from re-renting my vacant units and refused to send us new applicant referrals, causing three more units to stand vacant, at a loss of an additional $2,500 per month.

I contacted the Ogden Housing Authority and informed them that the money the building generated in rents each month, was my only source of income and that cutting my income off would make it impossible for me to make the repairs, but that didn't bother them in the least.

Unaware, or couldn't be bothered?

After several failed attempts at resolving the matter with Ogden Housing directly, I contacted HUD's Denver Field Office who quickly recognized that without income, I would not be able to make the corrections. HUD offered to contact Ogden Housing to help get   the issue resolved, and get back to me.

Initially, the Ogden Housing Authority lied and told HUD that they were not preventing me from renting my vacancies, but after providing HUD with copies of emails from the OHA showing that they were lying, HUD addressed the matter with them.

Weeks passed while I waited to hear back from HUD and after making a follow-up call, I received an email from Ogden Housing telling me that they had addressed my concerns with HUD, but forgot  to let me know what the outcome was.  (right) 

HUD asked the Ogden Housing Authority to stop preventing me from re-renting my vacant units and to start sending us referrals again, for families that did not have pregnant women or children under 6 years of age in the household, so I could start generating some income again and make the repairs.

By the time the Ogden Housing Authority began sending us referrals again, 5-months had passed and I had lost over $25,000 in rents.
well over the amount needed to make the repairs.

Ogden Housing was undoubtedly annoyed with the fact that I had gone over their heads to HUD. and immediately after that resolution was reached and Ogden Housing could no longer prevent me from renting my vacant units, I received a City Code Enforcement violation in the mail, that included a hefty, weekly fine, until the damage was repaired.  The Citation was issued in response to a complaint they had received. Not surprisingly, the complaint was about the same damage that the Ogden Housing Authority had stopped paying the rent over. It wasn't very difficult to figure out who filed that complaint.

The Ogden Housing Authority then required me to have a Lead Based Paint-Risk Assessment done,  by a State certified inspector, to determine if lead based paint was present. The inspection was costly and served no other purpose than to cause me additional expense, since the Ogden Housing Authority had already made a determination weeks earlier, that the building had lead paint.

For the assessment, I was required to use a State certified firm, that specializes in lead based paint, selected from a list that is maintained by the Utah EPA, but I quickly found that most of the firms on the list had no idea what a lead based paint risk assessment was, or why their firm appeared on the EPA's list.

Because I was having difficulty finding an inspector, and the time I was allotted to have the inspection completed was nearing an end, the Ogden Housing Authority suggested that I let them help me find an inspector,  and they quickly secured one for me.

The findings of the inspection were questionable at best, with the inspector stating that most often, when a positive result was obtained, he would re-test the same area just a few inches away and obtain a negative reading. When I questioned the inspector's qualifications and the accuracy of the testing materials, the inspector quickly sent a revised report to me...  then another...  and another.

In total, I received 3-revised inspection reports, each one different from the last. The most suspect of his findings, were the positive readings the inspector obtained from the back stairwell railings.

Lead based paint was banned in this country in 1978, but after providing the inspector with a photograph of the back of the building, that was taken during the 1987 rehabilitation of the property, showing the back stair railings in their natural wood state, he became defensive and had no explanation for the clearly erroneous readings he obtained... I've got a few theories

Most suspect of all, is the fact that when I asked the inspector how much his firm would charge to do the work he recommended in his inspection report, he told me that his company doesn't do that kind of work.

Let's review...

The Ogden Housing Authority secured an inspector for me, who couldn't obtain consistent test results, from a  State certified lead based paint firm that doesn't do lead based paint related work?  

The Ogden Housing Authority routinely fails to respond to owner contact and has to have correspondence hand delivered to them to ensure they have received it.    

If that's what the Ogden Housing Authority calls 'working closely with an owner'

I'd hate to see them working against one.

The Ogden Housing Authority tries to paint a picture of themselves as being a kind,  compassionate and caring agency, whose sole purpose on earth is to watch over and protect their clients, while helping owners in need of assistance, overcome any obstacles that come their way, so they can all march off together, hand in hand, into the sunset.... WHAT A CROCK OF...$#!%!!!

It would be unfair of me to say that the Ogden Housing Authority was being less than truthful in their statement on extending the time necessary to make repairs in extenuating circumstances, but only because that would be a monumental understatement.

In truth, the Ogden Housing Authority was so desperate to terminate my contract with HUD, that after looking the other way for as many as 8 years for Kier Management, who caused the damage my contract was terminated over, they forced my tenants out of their homes and off of the program they were on, and onto a program that is dramatically underfunded, according to this Tweet sent out by the HUD Denver Office.

Initially, I asked Ogden Housing to allow me until the end of summer to complete the repairs, because some unexpected expenses had left me without the funds needed to make them at that time. Although I had previously advised them that the painting couldn't even be started until outdoor temperatures were consistently above 50 degrees, the Ogden Housing Authority denied my request and gave me until April 16, to make the repairs, when temperatures were still largely below 50.

The damage to the paint occured under the former management company's watch, sometime between 2005 and 2009. The damage is no worse today, than it was in 2009 when I took over the management, which says that for at least the last 5-years, the Ogden Housing Authority had no problem with allowing tenants to live in the building, yet suddenly repairing the damage became so dire, that they felt compelled to terminate my contract and displace tenants who have been living in the building for as long as 30 years, rather than allow me a few more months to make the repairs when I was financially able to?

Does that make sense to anyone?

Because my finances at the time prevented me from being able to make the repairs and The Ogden Housing Authority would not compromise on time, they asked HUD for some guidance. HUD referred me to some programs, designed to help property owners with the cost of repairs, through low interest loans and grants, but after spending several weeks gathering the required documentation and submitting the applications, I found out that one program only offers tax credits instead of real time financing, and the other program was closed.

By then, it was too late...the damage was done.  Seven months of the Ogden Housing Authority preventing me from renting my vacant units combined with them not paying the rent on several others, made it impossible for me to recover financially and make the repairs in time... which, if you've read this far, was apparently their goal.

WHAT  GOOD  ARE  GOOD  INTENTIONS

AGAINST BAD INTENT? 

I question what the Ogden Housing Authority considers to be a show of good intentions.  I routinely kept them updated on my progress, when there were updates to give. I complied with their directive to have a risk assessment inspection and allowed them to secure the inspector for it, yet the fact that we  had corrected the other deficiencies cited, well before the deadline, totally escaped their notice. Why? Because you can't terminate a contract for making repairs, so completed corrections did not fit their agenda. 

In the end, the only one who apparently came out on top
was the Ogden Housing Authority, who cut $40,000 off their annual budget while still housing the same number of people.

HUD will probably give them all bonuses for that 

In the article, the Ogden Housing Authority tried to sound heroic, by coming to the rescue with "Protection Vouchers" for my tenants, but that's only half of the story. What they didn't say, was that the Protection Voucher doesn't really protect the tenants at all. Instead what the voucher does, is require my tenants to take on additional expenses that they cannot afford. It also forced them to leave the HUD-Program they were on, and give up benifits that they are entitled to under their contract with Ogden Housing.

My building, was on HUD's Moderate Rehabilitation Program, which gives low to no-income families the ability to obtain housing they can afford, by requiring them to pay minimal security deposits,  offering rents based on 30% of their income, and covering the cost of their utilities in the rent. The Protection Vouchers my tenants received, require them to pay full security deposits and the cost of their own utilities. 

My tenants are poor and on limited incomes. They didn't ask to take on these expenses, but they were not given a choice. When my tenants told the Ogden Housing Authority that they couldn't afford to move, Ogden Housing came to the rescue again and offered to pay their security deposits for them.  Then they told the tenants that it would only be a loan, and they would have to pay the money back in installments.  Add that to the cost of paying their moving expenses and the Ogden Housing Authority doesn't sound very heroic at all.

My tenants did not ask to lose their homes and be displaced. In fact, they told Ogden Housing that they wanted to stay right where they were. Ironically, when the Ogden Housing Authority sent them a list of apartment complexes to choose from and neglected to remove my building as one of the choices, they all picked my building as the place they wanted to live, but the Ogden Housing Authority wouldn't allow it.

The Ogden Housing Authority told my tenants to go out and find other housing. What they didn't do,  is consider the fact that many of these income restricted people have no credit or bad credit, which would prevent them from qualifying for a lease at another property, or for utility accounts. They also never considered that it was the middle of winter and many of my tenants do not have cars to go out apartment hunting.

My tenants had a contract with the Ogden Housing Authority to participate in the Moderate Rehabilitation Program. They followed the rules and didn't do anything to be removed from the Program, and they are entitled to continue receiving the same benifits.  The Ogden Housing Authority was also aware of this, so to address it, they held a meeting with my tenants and made it sound like they were the luckiest people on earth, who had just hit the jackpot, because they were getting Vouchers. Then one by one, they were all taken into separate rooms and pressured into agreeing to leave the Mod-Rehab Program and give up the benifits it offered, in exchange for receiving a Voucher that did not provide those same benefits.

 NOW ALL THEY NEED IS 

PROTECTION FROM THE PROTECTION VOUCHER... and the OHA

The Ogden Housing Authority never offered to help my tenants use their vouchers, or to help them with anything else for that matter. They couldn't even be bothered checking in with them to find out if they had made any progress, or if they were having any problems finding housing... and there were problems. Many had bad credit issues that prevented them from qualifying for a lease at another property, while others didn't have any credit at all and had the same problem.  
  
On the day my contract terminated and the Ogden Housing Authority stopped paying the rent and utilities, there were still 5-families living in the building who had not been able to find other housing and had no place to go. it was another month before everyone had found a place and moved out.

I got stuck covering over $9,000 in rents and utility bills in February, for the tenants who had not yet found a place to move to, and the Ogden Housing Authority couldn't have cared less. In fact, they planned it that way.

They can try to justify it, or cover it up, any way they want, but the fact is, that the Ogden Housing Authority made it very clear to my tenants, that if they did not accept their offer of a housing voucher and leave the Mod-Rehab Program, they would be dropped from the housing assistance program all together.  

The Ogden Housing Authority purposely misled my tenants into believing that they had 60 days to move out of my building, when they really had just 23, hoping that once the contract terminated, I would be forced to evict any remaining tenants for non-payment of the rent. This attempt at turning the tenants against me, was obviously done intentionally and maliciously, because when I brought it to the attention of the Ogden Housing Authority, they couldn't even bother to contact the tenants and clarify themselves.

 On January 31, 2015, the day my contract was terminated by the Ogden Housing Authority, there were still 5-families living in my building, who had not yet found other housing to move to. Evidently. the Ogden Housing Authority expected me to just kick them to the curb... just like they did.

By now, it should be fairly obvious to anyone reading this blog, that the Ogden Housing Authority's reason for terminating my contract was questionable at best, and was more likely in retaliation over the information I had posted on the internet about their corruption and misconduct, which led them to order me to correct deficiencies that had previously existed for as many as 9-years, and do everything in their power to cut off my income, to ensure that I could not comply with their orders, so they could terminate my contract. 
  

  That's the REAL 

Ogden Housing Authority 

         

                                                    

The OHA Blocked Me From Evicting Their Informant

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THE OHA REPEATEDLY MIS-STATED A PROGRAM RULE, TO KEEP ME FROM EVICTING A TENANT and OHA  INFORMANT
 you won't believe what else they did

After making the decision to evict a tenant, for her habitual failure to follow the rules and repeated violations of her lease, I sent a copy of the proposed eviction to the Ogden Housing Authority, as required. 

The eviction was largely based upon paragraph 23, subsection d(2) of the tenant's lease, which provided for the termination of the tenancy, due to repeated violations of the lease. 

Less than an hour after serving the tenant with a 30-day Notice to Vacate, I received the following e-mail from Robeka Sessions at the Ogden Housing Authority, stating that on a 30-day notice to terminate a lease under the Mod-Rehab Program, the termination must be for "Serious & repeated violations of the lease". (which is incorrect)

Robeka's response was puzzling, because paragraph 23, subsection d(2) of the tenant's lease allowed for termination of the tenancy for repeated minor violations of the lease (right), provided that the minor violations fall within the criteria specified.

Even more puzzling was the fact that Robeka's response driectly contradicted documentation that the OHA had published and provided to me, which states, "...for serious and/or repeated violations of the lease.  With the Ogden Housing Authority, it's the and/or stuff you have to watch out for.

This tenant had been the recipient of numerous lease violations, for reasons ranging from:

• Failing to report additional household members to the Housing Authority;
• Permitting unauthorized persons to live in the unit with her;
• Violation of a signed lease addendum resulting in damages to the unit;
• Permitting unauthorized vehicles to park on the premises;
• Permitting visitors and non-residents to enter the building through the rear of the unit;
• Interfering with the building's management by gossiping and spreading false rumors; and
• Attempting to incite tenant discord and unrest.

Obviously this tenant had no intention of upholding the terms of her lease and further complained to the housing authority when management enforced the lease terms she agreed to.  She was also acting as the OHA's informant, supplying false information to them to gain special treatment.

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In May 2010,  Lin Fulcher, the Special Programs Manager of the Ogden Housing Authority, notified me that the lease that Kier Management had been using for my property had been previously disapproved by their agency for prohibited content, but the leases at my property, (including this tenant's lease) were never amended to remove that content.

Given the email I received from Robeka Sessions (above) regarding this eviction, combined with Kier Management's propensity for continuing to use a lease that had been disapproved by the Ogden Housing Authority, I made several attempts to obtain a confirmation from the Housing Authority that paragraph 23 of this tenant's lease did not have any prohibited content. A simple enough question... for anyone BUT the Ogden Housing Authority.

MY  1st  ATTEMPT:

I responded to Robeka Sessions' email with this email and a copy of the lease paragraph in question, asking for a clarification... SHE DID NOT RESPOND TO IT. 

MY  2nd  ATTEMPT:

I made a second attempt to get clarification from the Housing Authority... THEY FAILED TO RESPOND AGAIN.\

MY  3rd  ATTEMPT: 

Because the Ogden Housing Authority repeatedly failed to respond to my question, I issued a withdrawal of the resident's 30-day Notice to Vacate until a determination could be made regarding her lease content, reminding them again that I was awaiting their response.

OHA - RESPONSE #1:

The Housing Authority finally responded with this email, 2-days after making my first inquiry, clearly oblivious to the question posed to them. At no time did I ask the Housing Authority to approve this termination. The question posed to them was whether the content of paragraph 23 of this resident's lease was prohibited under the Program. Rather than providing an answer, Ms. Fulcher reiterates the information provided by Ms. Sessions, making the subtle, but obvious  change in verbiage from, "Serious and repeated violations" to "Serious OR repeated violations" 

MY  4th  ATTEMPT:

I responded to Ms. Fulcher, pointing out to her again that I had not asked the Ogden Housing Authority to approve the termination. What I was asking them to do was to review paragraph 23 of the resident's lease for prohibited content.

OHA - RESPONSE #2:

Ms. Fulcher responded to me with this email, skirting the question posed yet again, defining the difference between "Serious" and "Repeated" violations of the lease instead. Honestly? I don't know how I could have possibly been more clear or articulate in posing my question to the Housing Authority, yet they repeatedly failed to answer it. 

MY  5th  ATTEMPT:

In this email response to Ms. Fulcher, I spell out my question to the Housing Authority once again, reminding her that she had previously informed me that there was prohibited content in this resident's lease and that given Ms. Sessions original response to me, I had very real concerns about this particular lease paragraph. 

OHA - RESPONSE #3:

After 5-atempts in 6-days, Ms. Fulcher finally provided the answer to my question.... Sheesh! 

Ask them one simple question regarding the inconsistency of the information they provide and you get a 6-day ride on the OHA-go-round.   

The correct rule verbiage is:
...for serious OR repeated violations of the lease. 

  

Because I could not get a straight answer out of the OHA, I withdrew the eviction, which is exactly what the OHA wanted...