City Of Lancaster California - Are You Listening? (Irvine, Palmdale: section 8, real estate)

[Out_of_Palmdale]

I have the solution for the City of Lancaster right here.

Don't denigrate an entire class of citizens!! Not EVERYONE on Section 8 is a problem. How did Section 8 come into being? As a means to help those who would otherwise die by society's roadside. I know wheelchair bound Section 8 recipients who greatly appreciate their rent subsidy and would never do anything to endanger that subsidy because they know what would happen - homelessness and helplessness. By the same token, I know of Section 8 recipients who use drugs, get high on drugs and/or alcohol constantly, move in undesirable unauthorized occupants, and just generally take Uncle Sam's payout totally for granted - no appreciation whatsoever. "Tenants" like these are the problem but .......

MAKE THE LANDLORDS RESPONSIBLE!! They are the ones responsible for who lives in their rental units. If the landlords/owners want to live the high life at the beach and forget that they have rental properties out here in the dust bowl of the AV, LET 'EM!! That's the problem. Make the landlords responsible for anything and everything that goes on at their rental properties.

Drug dealers? That's the LANDLORD'S responsibility.
Overcrowding? That's the LANDLORD'S responsibility.
Prostitution? That's the LANDLORD'S responsibility.
Drunks laying around the property? That's the LANDLORD'S responsibility.
Losers hanging around in front? That's the LANDLORD'S responsibility.
Broken down motor vehicles and dead lawns? Guess what? LANDLORD RESPONSIBILITY.

Issue fines. Issue no more than THREE written warnings. If the Landlord bums don't want to take care of business, take control of the property and SELL IT. Refusal/denial/inability to take care of rental properties is NO EXCUSE. If the Landlord/Owner wants to run a flop house, that should be absolute legal grounds to forfeit ownership. EASY. CITY OF LANCASTER - TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS. The collective "YOU" drag your feet and wonder why the place is a sh*thole. I'm telling you why.

MAKE THE LANDLORDS RESPONSIBLE!! How much clearer can I say it? Hit the landlords/owners in the bank account and GUARANTEED - life WILL get easier when these slumlords know that they stand to lose property. They will be forced to take care of business, hire responsible managers and keep in contact daily with the goings on at their rental units. They will be forced to IMMEDIATELY serve notice on tenants who refuse to follow the rules. As it is right now, Joe Blow Landlord in Irvine doesn't give a krap about what's going on up here just so long as he/she receives the rent. Collecting rent doesn't make a landlord but making them responsible for their TENANTS will. If the landlords are afraid to deal with the loser tenants they rented to in the first place, they should be forced to either get educated or sell the property. There is way too much abuse of the Section 8 program but don't blame EVERYONE. There are decent Section 8 tenants out there for sure.

Regardless of whether or not the tenant is on Section 8, MAKE THE LANDLORD/OWNER RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING THAT GOES ON WITH THEIR PROPERTY. THE CITY SHOULD NOT BE POLICING APARTMENT BUILDINGS OR RENTAL HOUSES - THAT'S JUST RIDICULOUS.

If the City needs to create laws - CREATE THEM.
If the City needs to grow more teeth to enforce the laws - GROW THEM.
The city needs to make landlords/rental property owners responsible for the properties that THEY own - DO IT. And then take the property away if the problems continue. How easy is that?

[EscapeCalifornia]

So how are the landlords supposed to clean up their properties without being sued for discrimination?

[Out_of_Palmdale]

Let me put it to you this way.

If I were the landlord and I had a drug using, drug dealing, hooker and hustler lovin' tenant .... it would be in my BEST interests to get that jerk out of my property before I MYSELF were hit with a lawsuit. In case you weren't aware, landlords who allow dangerous situations to continue unchecked are liable for any and all problems associated with the tenant who, while on a drug crazed binge, decides to stick someone with a knife. Especially if the landlord had been warned about it. It has nothing whatsoever to do with "discrimination". Criminals and law breakers need to be moved on, whether or not they are on Section 8. MAKE THE LANDLORDS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TENANTS THEY HAVE RENTED TO!!! That simple. If the landlords don't want to clean up their properties, they deserve to lose them.

City of Lancaster needs to get with the game. City of Palmdale just passed a municipal law stating this very thing - check it out.

[VickyVicky]

If the landlords suspect ANY of that activity they can contact the Section 8 Fraud hotline (its posted in the other thread I started) They are asking for info, tips, and the landlord could provide the best tips.

As far as the dead lawns, broken windows, broken down cars, community residents can now report that to CODE ENFORCEMENT which we now have in Lancaster, they will write up and photograph and send the landlord a letter of the lawns, cars, trash, broken windows, broken down car, cars parked on lawns you name it... if you live in the Antelope Valley read the newsletter the city sends in the mail, they constantly write about infractions and what they write up and where to call. The code enforcement is a roundabout way to deal with this issue.

THey give about 30-45 days to clean things up, if they arent the landlord can be fined and the fine is listed on the letter received. Also appearing in court can be at hand too.

[Kathleenh54]

It's extremely difficult and costly in some cases to evict tenants. Also, do landlords have to accept Section 8 tenants in the first place? If they do, then their hands could effectively be tied, like so much else in CA. There are things which can be done, but private landlords don't want to deal with these problems. That leaves us with government-subsidized housing and we're back where we started.

It's an intractable problem. I wouldn't want to be a landlord ANYWHERE.

[Out_of_Palmdale]

Posted by Kathleenh54
Kathleenh54: It's extremely difficult and costly in some cases to evict tenants.

My response: yes, it is. Upwards of $600. But that's part and parcel of buying a multi family property. And if, as a landlord, you have problem tenants living in your property, it's always in your best interests to move them on. All you have to do is to serve a 30 day notice with no reason given as to why the tenant is being told to hit the road - the law doesn't require that the landlord give a reason.

Kathleenh54: Also, do landlords have to accept Section 8 tenants in the first place? If they do, then their hands could effectively be tied, like so much else in CA. There are things which can be done, but private landlords don't want to deal with these problems. That leaves us with government-subsidized housing and we're back where we started.

My response: No, landlords do not have to accept Section 8. However, landlording is a full time job, 365 days a year. Rarely is there a day off from one problem or another. Still, in California it's not all bad. When the next real estate boom comes around property will double/triple and it all will have all been worthwhile when you can make bank. Which, if you've been smart, you will. Also, for what it's worth, Section 8 recipients are not allowed to get publicly drunk or use drugs or move unauthorized people into the rental or live like pigs. Doing so will cause them to get kicked off of Section 8 at the same time that the landlord has served the notice for them to get out of the rental. If being a landlord and dealing with problem people is a scary proposition for you, then landlording would be the wrong business for you to be in. Because that's what it is - a business.

Kathleenh54: It's an intractable problem. I wouldn't want to be a landlord ANYWHERE.

My response: That seems to be the attitude of most of the slumlords in the AV - yet they bought property up here anyway >:< ...

[Kathleenh54]

Thanks, OoP.

In NY, where I am from, it is notoriously difficult to evict tenants from an apartment which is why I asked. Not having lived in NY for a few years, however, it may have changed.

[VickyVicky]

No people do not have to rent to Section 8.

The reason more people it seems have been allowing it is because they have tried to rent out these homes for prices that they cannot get in the regular rental market. Some of these are people who have payments that are too high on their mortgage and the Section 8 program is their only guaranteed way to get the money. The government pays, so its guaranteed cash instead of their home sitting there vacant. Take a look at the prices for Lancaster homes for rent right now, some of it is ridiculous, the rent is the price of a mortgage payment. Which explains the Section 8 homes popping up in newer housing tracks.

[Out_of_Palmdale]

Section 8 are actually lowering the amount of money they will pay as part of a recipient's rent. Section 8 have NEVER paid above market rates here in the AV - the rent that Section 8 has paid has been on par with market values. Apparently, rents are dropping in the AV and therefore so is Section 8's stipend to the renter. The thinking among landlords in renting to Section 8 has been this: The tenant pool is so bad in general that renting to Section 8 will guarantee some form of a reliable tenant. WRONG. Section 8 tenants still drink, get drunk, do drugs, fight constantly. The good news is that there has been a crackdown on this type of abuse by Section 8 investigators. Did anyone read about the Sec8 renter with the mercedes in the driveway in the AV press last month? There is a definite criminal element within the Sec8 program because (a) they think no one will do anything about their abuses and (b) they have been born and raised on welfare, getting something for nothing is a way of life and they have no reason whatsoever to think that they will ever have to work. This is the end result of a half century of welfare: leaches, roaches and other helpless ne'er do wells who have every answer in the book tripping off their tongues when it comes to getting their way at the expense of everyone else.