Community Voice Questionnaire

Housing Stories

Tenants’ Council Active in HUD Housing

Ms. Rachel Johnson (Faces of HUD Housing Unity Project) Rachel grew up in HUD housing with her mother and 3 brothers. It was multi-family Section 8 housing. Rachel is an advocate for low income housing tenants. She is focused on helping others make everything right through her advocacy organization. She fights against stereotyping, raises up needs and works to defend tenants’ rights. Rachel’s mother worked for the police department as a Community Service Aid. She helped organize residents within the HUD Section 8 housing. Rachel was, at one point, served with a 3 day notice to move out of Section 8 Housing. She was accused of fraud and had to defend herself. She fought and won the investigation, but was still evicted from housing, placing her in a hotel with her children. Rachel works to make the existing policies work. There is a policy called RAD, which stands for Rental Assistance Demonstration. It states that tenants are supposed to have input into mangement of HUD housing. Ms. Valerie Buchand serves in the role of organizing tenants so they have a unified voice for advocacy. Many HUD housing complexes are unsafe, have domestic violence and late utility check issuance. In the Sarasota Housing Authority, attempts to evict have begun. Rent subsidies are being removed and rents are going up to market value. Workers are mistreating tenants and violating the rights of tenants. 24 CFR 964 Regulations for HUD public housing say that tenants can have service coordinators, hire bookkeepers to help them, provide $25/door, vending machines and that if a developer comes in, tenant councils should be able to have agreements so they can recover from the developer impacts. Also at the Sarasota Housing Authority, tenant suggestions on how dollars should be spent are not being heard. Rachel helps Tenants’ Councils by developing Customer Service Champions, and helping the homeless and displaced. She helps people who are being mistreated and informs people about what the processes and procedures are as they try to work with the Housing Authority. With COVID there have been evictions and Section 8 housing has not been available. Housing has been terminated. Police officers come to HUD units, and armed security guards physically move people out. One woman with COVID was locked into her unit. There have been illegal evictions, and there have been offers of money to people for moving that is never paid. Rachel feels that cities and counties should do oversite. Tenants should not be charged for normal wear and tear. People should not be put out of housing with a 90 day voucher, because if they can’t find housing in 90 days they are homeless or displaced. CARES Act Rental Assistance is not available for Section 8 tenants. It is regarded to be “double dipping.” The CRAs did not understand how to help tenants with CARES Act funding. Only 30% went to tenants. 70% went to landlords. Housing Authorities have their doors closed, and automated services are on. People have less income due to COVID & can’t get their rents recalculated. Rent reimbursement is not retroactive. The disputes are in court and people have to pay back. Valerie and Deb are the Resident Commissioners. They say that Black people are being displaced from their jobs and White people are replacing them. Tenants who speak up are retaliated against or harassed. There is a “Just Cause Clause’ which says that every effort must be made to prevent people from losing their housing. Two things are happening: 1: A tenant is losing housing=evicted, and 2)An evicted tenant goes to a shelter to get another voucher. There is a need for people to stay on their vouchers so others in need can apply and there will be more vouchers available instead of the same people taking new vouchers. There are Source of Income Discrimination Laws. These prevent landlords from denying a tenant with a Section 8 voucher. There is re-entry assistance for returning felons and there are loopholes that prevent them from being housed. There can be MOAs between Resident Councils and Housing Authorities. Residents want incentives. The Housing Authority doesn’t want to pay, so they hold up the MOA. Grievance proceduree: Developer Agreements should increase the money available to tenants. The agreements can: pull from Section 8 voucher lists, help with displacement and homelessness, provide case management for the people, help people with mental disabilities by using just cause to use every way possible to keep people housed. There is fraudulent activity. Old stoves are installed in units instead of new stoves and it can cause fires. There are violations of tenants’ rights. Tenants can be Black balled. Rachel helps tenants to organize because HUD recognizes Tenant Coulcils’ need to have input into Housing Authority processes. Resources are not available to help people get out of Section 8 housing. Valerie Buchand’s Residents’ Coumcil is among the best in the state. Valerie’s Council has a 1 – 3 year plan. The paperwork was not done correctly so the Residents’ Council’s recommendations did not advance. “They wanted to ignore us.” Our workers were pushed out of jobs and Towers is mistreating our elderly. Rachel is working on briefings and a press conference with the Secretary of HUD, and is also working on a Saving Our Homes Tour together with their ally Florida Rising. They will petition the Secretary of HUD to meet with the Residents’ Council. Workers are in distress and the Board has oversight. Although it may look pretty on the outside, decisons that have to be made may be tough. Rachel Johnson Housing Advocate 863-500-2592. Email: facesofHUDHousing@gmail.com (also a FB Group)