February 27, 2013
As Section 8 housing subsidies disappear, the dynamic director of Albany Housing Authority takes some unnecessary steps to
save money
The following is a much expanded version of a letter that I sent to Mr. Longo at Albany Housing Authority, which administers the Section 8 housing assistance program for the City of Albany.
Mr. Steven Longo
Executive Director, Albany Housing Authority (AHA)
I am addressing you in your capacity as Director of the agency that administers the Section 8 housing subsidy program for the City of Albany. I would not bother you otherwise, I know how much you detest me personally, even to the point that you can hardly stand to look at me when we meet. Of course I am used to this attitude that is a mixture of disgust, anger and fear from City officials who serve at the pleasure of Mayor Jerry Jennings, fortunately I am well used to it and it doesn’t bother me in the least.
Despite this I think very well of you Mr. Longo. I am particularly impressed with your housing and rehabilitation initiatives here in the South End and in Arbor Hill. Your innovative work has quite literally transformed my neighborhood for the better, for which I am very grateful, and I see your work as the centerpiece of what is turning out to be an economic revival of the entire South End. I am amazed at how you juggle complex funding issues and politics, yet you are managing to produce such a quantity of concrete results.
I’m sure that going public with this letter of complaint is not going to induce you to like me any better, I’m sure this is the last thing you want to see. But I think that my relatively petty complaints concerning the administration of the Section 8 program here in Albany are indicative of bigger issues that need to be addressed publicly. At least I am fairly sure that this public letter will not cause you to detest me any more than you have, human beings have limits.
Newly Renovated And Newly Built Houses
On Lower Morton Avenue
I have a friend who is extremely critical of the Section 8 program. She is a single mother of three teenagers and works half a dozen jobs to make ends meet. While she is not above applying (unsuccessfully this year) for programs such as the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) to help pay her power bills, she has long given up even trying to get on programs like Section 8.
“Why is it I have to work all these jobs,” she screamed at me, “and I see all these people who get assistance? Why do all these people with Section 8 have money to spend on themselves and I have to go hungry to feed my kids?” Occasionally that’s been true. “That’s the problem with the economy, all these people who don’t work.”
Steve Longo
Since I get tired of being screamed at rather quickly these days, I didn’t bring up the matter of her misplaced pride. Instead I said, “It’s not the shrinking subsidies to poor people that are killing us, the problem with our economy is the way the corporate rich are sucking our wealth out of the country at a fantastic rate. Sure we give hundreds of millions to the poor, some of whom don’t deserve it, but we give trillions to the rich who deserve none of it. It’s like comparing a dustball to a garbage dump.
“I’d rather give subsidies to poor folks,” I continued, “because that money rises up to the middle class before the rich get it. “Trickle Down” is a sick joke. The money we give to the rich and to the corporations just leaves this country and never comes back. You’re angry at poor folks with subsidies because you can see them, but you don’t get mad about the real serious problem because the layabout rich are not visible to you.”
Well, she didn’t lower her voice. “Look,” she hollered, “all I know is that I’m working all the time and I see all these people who don’t have to. I’ve had a total of six hours of sleep in the last four days. I should quit working all the time and let the government pay my bills. I’m getting ready to lose it!” You can’t argue with some people.
Eagle Court Apartments, No Longer A Hellhole
I did not remind my screaming friend (I’m really getting tired of “friends” who scream at me, I really am) that Section 8 does not pay anybody’s entire housing cost, it’s a “supplement.” In other words, it makes up the difference between the tenant’s income and the cost of the apartment, sort of a stopgap to compensate for inflation and the effects of a “robust housing market.”
For the most part Section 8 is provided to the working poor, that is, those whose hourly wages or salaries cannot keep up with the price of adequate housing for themselves and for their families. But in many cases there are disabled people who, through no fault of their own, cannot afford housing with their Social Security or Disability payments. Because of their disabilities they cannot work, yet such folks have a guaranteed base income, so why should they become homeless? There is every reason to let disabled people have access to Section 8.
So instead of working poor and disabled people dying on the street or packing homeless shelters, because of Section 8 they are occupying dwellings, paying taxes (yes the poor pay a lot of taxes, proportionately more than the rich do) and buying necessities and the occasional small luxury. Most of the money that they pay for these things, such as food and shelter and drugs both legal and illegal, ends up in the hands of middle class people. So in other words, Section 8 ultimately is a middle class subsidy, keeping the middle class working and thus solvent.
Houses Built On The Site Of The Old Jared-Holt Wax Factory, Perhaps Mr. Longo’s Most Significant Success So Far
The problem is that the Federal money available for Section 8 has been shrinking quite a bit these last ten years. Six or seven years ago, if a person like my screaming friend wanted to swallow her pride and apply for Section 8 she would have been placed on a waiting list of three years or more. But today there is no waiting list, people are not being added to the Section 8 rolls, they are being removed at every opportunity.
And those who are already receiving Section 8 are seeing their subsidies diminish. I have exactly three Section 8 tenants in my apartments, all of them severely disabled. Every year each of these tenants “comes up for an annual review.” This invariable means that I will receive a letter in the mail announcing that their monthly subsidy will be lowered by X amount, usually ten to twenty dollars per month. The tenant will also receive this letter and is expected to make up this loss with their own other income.
Make no mistake about it, these annual losses of income have impacted my three disabled tenants severely. So far they have been able to tolerate these losses and maintain their tenancies, that is, continue to pay the rent and eat, but considering the rate of inflation I wonder for how much longer. I am not looking forward to playing the role of the evil landlord and throwing disabled people out on the street.
90 Morton Avenue, Next To Eagle Court
At the same time that I receive these yearly letters that reduce the income of my Section 8 tenants, AHA conducts inspections of their apartments to see if the landlord is maintaining the apartments properly. These inspections are separate from the City of Albany inspections, which are supposed to be conducted every 30 months but in practice less often than that and not universally. AHA is much more diligent about standards, I have never known them to miss an annual inspection.
Okay, here’s what happened. On January 24 AHA conducted an annual inspection of one of my apartments, which for a long time has been occupied by a sight impaired woman whom we shall call Jane Smith. When I first rented the apartment to Ms. Smith she had enough sight left to hold down a job, but the onset of macular degeneration has eventually left her almost helplessly blind. We often joke that she suffers from CSS, can’t see shit. Still, thanks to assistance from the government she manages to take care of herself and get by.
The AHA Section 8 inspector was fine with my maintenance of the apartment, everything in working order. But, he informed me, he had some housekeeping issues with the tenant. This, he clearly informed me, was purely a matter between Ms. Smith and AHA, she would be required to carry out the resolution of the housekeeping problem. It had nothing to do with me.
"Phase III" Construction Ready To Start Behind
The Jared-Holt Houses
This housekeeping issue was not a general problem, actually Ms. Smith keeps the apartment surprisingly neat for a single woman who can’t see what she’s doing. What bothered the inspector was that Ms. Smith is a heavy smoker, and she characteristically confines her smoking to the kitchen. As a result the ceiling and walls of the kitchen had yellowed with tobacco residue and there was some dust hanging from the ceiling in one corner.
Admittedly this was kinda nasty looking, it took her years to achieve this mess and let’s not discuss what all those cigarettes have done to contribute to her poor health. I mean, it’s not like she has a lot to do with her time. Basically the inspector told me that the cigarette residue needed to be removed from the ceiling and walls and the paint repaired, and again he emphasized that this was solely the tenant’s responsibility.
I even asked him, this isn’t like one of those bogus City of Albany housekeeping citations, is it? You see, the City code inspectors issue these citations to the tenants for poor housekeeping, usually for piling up flammables such as paper, and supposedly it’s purely the tenant’s responsibility to deal with the problem. But if the tenant does not comply, the City will not issue a Certificate of Occupancy (CO) for the apartment and therefore the landlord will be required by law to evict the tenant immediately at his own expense. The Section 8 inspector indicated that AHA would not withhold the Section 8 payment for the following month.
I informed Ms. Smith (who wasn’t present for the inspection) that Section 8 was on her back to clean the crap off her kitchen ceiling, and that she would be hearing from them. She said, “Surely they don’t expect a woman with osteoporosis and anemia (not to mention CSS) to climb a stepladder? Who do I sue when I fall off?” I suggested that she bring up this question with AHA when they contact her, and that she should demand that they provide some sort of assistance to complete the assigned task.
Houses On Catherine Street Near Schuyler Mansion
Weeks passed, the January 24th inspection faded from my consciousness. On the 13th of February I received and opened a letter from AHA and read the following:
…The inspection FAILED for the following reasons:
Kitchen walls require cleaning. (Tenant Responsible)
Kitchen walls and ceiling requires painting. (Tenant Responsible)
A re-inspection has been scheduled for this unit. The date and time for the re-inspection is listed below. Failure of the tenant or landlord to comply with this inspection will result in a failure. All repairs must be made in the unit by the specified date and time. Failure to do so WILL result in the ABATEMENT of all payments from this agency…
Please note: PAYMENTS FOR THE ABATEMENT PERIOD WILL NOT BE MADE RETROACTIVE. PAYMENT WILL ONLY BEGIN ONCE THE AUTHORITY HAS CONFIRMED THAT ALL REPAIRS HAVE BEEN COMPLETED.
DATE: February 20, 2013
TIME: 11:30 AM to 11:40 AM