[billiefan2000]

Tenants Trash OHA House, Move To Another OHA House Without Penalty


quote:

An Omaha landlord complained that the government made a mistake and owes him money for rent, but that wasn't his only concern with the way taxpayer money was spent on a messy tenant.

“Oh yeah, it didn't look like this.” Landlord Al Rotella had to pay a cleanup crew to make his rental property at 40th and Larimore rentable again. He has photos to show how he found the house after the tenants moved out. “Trash, mattresses, dishes, broken TV sets."

Front to back and every room inside was left messy by tenants who received government vouchers to pay the rent. So the cost to the landlord of turning the mess into a clean house ready to be rented out again was more than $600.

Rotella said the forfeited deposit didn't cover the cleanup cost, but he's more frustrated that the renters moved to another Section 8 house without penalty.

“If they're getting ready to put a previous Section 8 applicant into another Section 8 home, I definitely think they should call the previous landlord and ask him if they had any problems, did they get paid everything, does the home look like it was when they took it over?”




more.... Tenants Trash OHA House, Move To Another OHA House Without Penalty

[pheaton]

Yeah, there needs to be something that leaves trashy people like that outside like the animals they are. You are getting free or really cheap housing, you need to apprecaiate that and use that to get yourself into a better financial or vocational situation. You shouldn't be allowed to be a total nasty person and destory other people's property and not have any consequences.

[Happygolucky]

So what! Slum lords make good money for guarrantied monthly payments from OHA. It is a fact of life the Welfare renters trash houses they live in for free. Hell they have no respect for themselves why would they respect a free house they were given.

You should see the houses that the Habitat for Humanity builds for those losers after 5 years.

He should be asked how many thousands of dollars he has made off the program.

600.00 is nothing, it is all tax deductable anyway. Why is this even news?

Go cry a river somehwere else....slum lord.

Mike Mcknight must really be pulling from the bottom of the news story bin to air this crap.

[mattpoulsen]

Happy,

That is ridiculous! Landlords make money because they invested money in the property that is being rented. You see a landlord get a check for $600 but you are not seeing that landlord paying $500 in a mortgage payment. And so what if he has made thousands of dollars?? What's your point? Ya, people make money of investments and hard work. Umm...that's the whole point. So how does that somehow disallow him from complaining about these people trashing his properties?? That's just absurd.

Moreover, if it weren't for these "slumlords" these people wouldn't have a place a live. The point is they are destroying a place because they aren't financially responsible for it. Maybe if the tenants would be a bit more invested the places would look like crapholes.

Its an absolute waste of tax payer money. You must incentivize the tenants in some way to keep their rental in good shape. If that means stripping them of housing if they don't then so be it.

I mean get on here and trash a landlord who is providing a service to society and actually doing something productive but you defend the twits who just trash a place being paid for by our tax dollars?? Its that mentality that is driving this country into the ground!

[billiefan2000]

Originally Posted by Happygolucky

So what! Slum lords make good money for guarrantied monthly payments from OHA. It is a fact of life the Welfare renters trash houses they live in for free. Hell they have no respect for themselves why would they respect a free house they were given.

You should see the houses that the Habitat for Humanity builds for those losers after 5 years.

He should be asked how many thousands of dollars he has made off the program.

600.00 is nothing, it is all tax deductable anyway. Why is this even news?

Go cry a river somehwere else....slum lord.

Mike Mcknight must really be pulling from the bottom of the news story bin to air this crap.

guess you havent been to Omaha TV News


wowt is desperate and pathetic at times. as is most of our local media


Mike McKnight is a professional compared to a few kmtv or omaha world herald folks

[Happygolucky]

My point is that there is no secret that Section 8 renters trash houses.

Every section 8 landlord knows this, they have a choise who they rent to. it is easy to rent to section 8 OHA because the money is there and they save time and money not having to chase down rent every month from dead beats.

Again it is a fact of lifwe no sence in complaining about. Plus I dont need to watch this crap on the Omaha news.

[Omaha Rocks]

^^ Exactly. The only way to keep Section 8 renters from destroying your property is to never rent to them. That's what I do.

[Scarlett Magnolia]

OHA tenants do not get their apt rentals for free. They pay according to their income, so some will pay at least HALF and some a THIRD of the normal residential rent cost. Also, they are subject to regular inspections at least once a year & must pass it, or risk being evicted. The inspections are conducted by OHA themselves, & are geared to keep the property safe, clean, avoid fire hazards, or safety hazards.

The OHA tenants must pay a deposit, & if their place is not in the condition it was when they moved in, they will forfeit their deposit, & may be required to pay additional costs. In most of the newer apt complexes, OHA tenants must pass a credit check, & a background check, to avoid druggies.

Is everything always a bed of roses? Even among apt complexes with NO OHA tenants they have severe problems. Children smash the coke machines, rip branches off the trees, make feces in the swimming pools, plug up the plumbing, & urinate in the washer/dryer machines & write graffitti. It is not always possible to make people monitor their kids. But OHA tries to give affordable housing to those in need, & it usually succeeds. It also offers computer classes FREE for their tenants, & gives help to find jobs for some of the parents who are temporarily unemployed. In general, it is a good way to use tax dollars, to keep people off the streets, where they would be forced to commit crimes.

[pheaton]

I'm not sure how they can do a very comprehensive background check when there are several illegal immigrants that are given the benefit of subsidized housing. I'm also not sure how that isn't a waste of tax payer money. I know a guy that rents subsidized apartments. He said several years ago there were issues with many of the tenants having the same social security numbers. He reported it over and over again as I'm sure many of the landlords did. Ultimately the obvious solution to this issue was to remove the requirement of a social security number. That makes the issue go away.

[bighusker]

Metro/Region - Omaha.com

The Omaha Housing Authority is a D-minus student because it continues to spend more than it takes in, according to its latest federal report card.

The report measured four areas: finance, physical condition, management systems and tenant response.

The agency earned decent grades in the latter three but a low F in finance for the 2009 fiscal year. The finance score measures net income and access to cash, among other things.

OHA's overall score, 66 out of 100 points, is the lowest it has received in a dozen years and is a red flag for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

It puts OHA close to troubled status, which triggers heavy HUD scrutiny and penalties. The last time OHA was “troubled” was in the late 1990s, when its books were so bad, auditors couldn't make heads or tails of the numbers.

The scores don't account for the latest financial crises to befall OHA: dealing with a retroactive cut in its federal subsidy and paying back two internal debts.

Complicating matters is board turmoil and turnover. OHA's board chairman, Phil Wayne, resigned over the weekend, citing deep divisions within the seven-member board. Mayor Jim Suttle on Monday announced a replacement.

The report card was released by HUD in January and obtained by The World-Herald.

HUD's Debra Lingwall, an Omaha official who works with OHA, said she couldn't pinpoint one reason for the low finance score and does not expect it to improve much between 2009 and 2010.

“They're spending more money than they bring in,” she said.

OHA's finance director, Tim Bohling, attributes the low 2009 score to a number of things, including HUD cuts and aging properties with more maintenance needs.

In addition, OHA added tax-credit properties to its public housing roster in 2006. These had complex financial structures with high debt service and real-estate taxes that tenant rents, ranging from $50 a month to a third of tenant income, won't begin to cover. Housing in Omaha Inc., OHA's nonprofit affiliate, manages these properties at a loss and has been loaned $2.5 million over several years from the agency to run them.

The low grade underscores that the agency is not liquid and that the long-term cash forecast is not promising.

Two weeks ago the OHA board proposed cutting employee pay and benefits. But a union representing about half of the agency's 200 employees balked, and the agency hasn't moved on cuts yet.

The 2009 report card is based on unaudited numbers OHA reports to HUD numbers-crunchers; HUD still had not turned in its assessment of OHA's audited figures for 2009, which could result in an adjusted number.

Contact the writer:

402-444-1136, erin.grace@owh.com