Two Democrats press HUD for info about accountability for poor condition of units
U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Sherrod Brown of Ohio say they will investigate whether owners are being held accountable for poor conditions at federally subsidized apartment complexes.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in its “Dangerous Dwellings” series, reviewed crime, fire and code enforcement data for multifamily properties in metro Atlanta that receive federal funding to subsidize rent for tenants with low incomes through the Section 8 Project Based Rental Assistance program. The AJC found that several PBRA sites rank among the region’s more than 270 persistently dangerous apartment complexes.
In their inquiry, the two Democrats are asking the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development whether it follows its own regulations to force federally subsidized private landlords to make repairs on properties that fail physical inspections.
“Residents at properties in our states and around the country have reported mold, rat and roach infestations, lack of basic plumbing facilities, poor security, and other severe health and safety concerns,” Ossoff and Brown wrote in a letter this past week to HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge.
“These conditions are unacceptable for any family, and in these cases, they are subsidized by the federal government,” the letter states. The senators requested answers from HUD by Oct. 13.
Federal regulations and contracts with property owners give HUD the power to force owners to make repairs, but tenants struggle to get the agency to use it on their behalf, said Bridgett Simmons, a staff attorney with the National Housing Law Project, which helps tenants and low-income homeowners across the country.
“What we’ve seen time and time again is HUD is reticent to actually use that power to require owners to bring properties back into compliance,” Simmons said. Poor tracking of tenant complaints and outdated technology make the problem worse.
Nationally, the PBRA program allows some 2 million people to live in affordable housing, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington-based think tank.
The subsidies are awarded to a complex, not tenants, and are a sought-after commodity among affordable housing landlords.
In Georgia — one of three states lacking basic habitability standards — HUD rules are supposed to give tenants of subsidized properties better protections than those who live in luxury high rises, gated complexes and other market-rate rentals.
But PBRA tenants may not be benefiting from these higher HUD standards. A review of the agency’s most recent physical inspections shows that at least 45 of these properties in Georgia received a failing score, according to the senators’ letter to Fudge. All but one had emergency health and safety issues, it said.
Problems with such properties have been so difficult to solve that a Senate inquiry may be what it takes to get HUD’s attention, said Alison Johnson, executive director of the Housing Justice League.
“Tenants have tried for so many years to really put the pressure on our regional and local HUD offices, but they haven’t budged,” Johnson said. “Hopefully this inquiry from the Senate will make them move, and know that their tenants are serious about the way we’ve been treated.”
Ports Authority gives $6 million to boost affordable housing in Savannah area
The flow of containers to its port terminals are a symbol of the economic boom in Savannah. Now, they may help ease a troubling side effect of that abundance, a housing crunch.
The Georgia Ports Authority is contributing $6 million to the Savannah Affordable Housing Fund, a public-private initiative that aims to invest $100 million by 2032 to improve, develop and purchase dwellings for 15,000 buyers and renters in Savannah and neighboring municipalities.
“These hardworking people have helped make our successes possible, and it is our duty to help them make their housing dreams attainable,” said Griff Lynch, the president and CEO of the Ports Authority.
A 2021 study by the Housing Savannah Task Force showed the city’s housing costs have outpaced incomes by a 2-to-1 ratio in the past 30 years. The study estimated that 40% of Savannah households, or about 21,000, cannot afford quality housing.
Housing prices have only climbed since that report’s release. The city’s average home price has risen more than 5% in the past year, and the average apartment currently rents for $1,600 per month.
Complicating Savannah’s affordable housing efforts is a land rush driven by the current and projected growth of the ports. A recent report from the real estate firm CBRE shows Savannah is the nation’s second-fastest growing market for “big box” warehouse development, or warehouses of more than 200,000 square feet.
The ports’ investment will go toward improvements to the neighborhoods located nearest to port facilities. Ocean Terminal abuts some of the most impoverished neighborhoods on the city’s west side. The Garden City terminal sits upriver from Savannah within the Garden City limits and is bordered by another municipality, Port Wentworth. Residents of those cities will be eligible to apply for down payment assistance for first-time home purchases.
The contribution has left MonaLisa Monroe, who heads the Garden City Housing Team, unimpressed.
She has been unable to find out how much of the $6 million is earmarked for Garden City or when the city will receive it. She’s also concerned that because Garden City doesn’t have a housing department, those funds must be used for first-time homebuyer assistance in a city where almost no housing is being built.
“There’s no housing to be had,” she said. “The only housing being built in Garden City is on the outskirts, and it’s not affordable housing. Them giving $6 million is great, but for that money to not go to building affordable housing is ridiculous.”
Credit: Georgia Ports Authority / Jeremy Polston
Credit: Georgia Ports Authority / Jeremy Polston
Traffic down at Port of Savannah, but plans for growth proceed
Business was down at the Port of Savannah in August, apparently because preparations for growth in the future got in the way.
The number of containers that passed through Savannah fell by 28% from August 2022, when the port’s terminals recorded their busiest month ever.
The decline was attributed to construction for future expansion of the port that reduced the number of berths where freighters could dock. The Georgia Ports Authority has launched a plan to renovate docks at its Ocean Terminal in Savannah to handle more container traffic, creating flexibility to grow over the next eight to 10 years.
In contrast, shipments were up 8% from last year at the Port of Brunswick, which handles primarily autos and machinery.
Traffic through the Savannah and Brunswick ports are key economic indicators for the state. It’s unclear whether construction will depress business so significantly in the months ahead, though the authority said it is “well-positioned for future growth.”
The Savannah port has seen dramatic growth in the past few years, the result of a combination of factors.
Diversification of American manufacturing has meant more goods coming from outside China, as well as exports from the southeastern United States to various trading partners. Delays in West Coast ports, as well as periodic labor trouble, gave shippers reason to divert cargo to Savannah.
Credit: Christina Matacotta
Credit: Christina Matacotta
Election official: Demands for voting security upgrades are pricey
If Republican state legislators want to continue pursuing their calls for security enhancements to the state’s voting system in time for the 2024 campaign season, there are obstacles to overcome, Georgia election officials say.
The biggest may be the cost: $32.5 million.
The lawmakers and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones have demanded security improvements after a computer science professor reported finding “critical vulnerabilities” that someone might be able to exploit to flip votes from one candidate to another. The state Senate Ethics Committee plans to hold election security hearings this fall, and the General Assembly could consider proposals when it convenes in January.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has tried to downplay the report. He says existing testing, audits and physical security already prevent attacks, and election officials are conducting statewide “health checks” of voting equipment to help ensure nobody has tampered with them.
The general counsel in his office, Charlene McGowan — in letters The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained through the Georgia Open Records Act — recently outlined the feasibility of the steps sought by some lawmakers, such as eliminating ballot bar codes, adding ballot verification technology and installing voting machine upgrades.
“We appreciate your support in backing the secure voting system used in the successful 2022 election that elected you and your colleagues,” McGowan wrote in an Aug. 24 letter to Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch. “The secretary believes it is critical that we not let activists sow dissent, disinformation and doubt in the integrity of Georgia’s elections.”
McGowan wrote that several issues remain before the state can conduct a full rollout of an update to Dominion Voting Systems equipment. The update is still being tested and is not yet compatible with voter check-in tablets, and the General Assembly hasn’t allocated money for a statewide installation.
A test run of the update is tentatively planned for several municipal elections this November.
McGowan also itemized the following expenses for some of the lawmakers’ requests:
- $15 million — in response to a call to eliminate computer bar codes on ballots, which election security advocates say prevent human verification of ballot choices — to purchase 32,500 ballot printers for use across the state that can handle a larger 18-inch ballot.
- $10 million for an education campaign to encourage voters to check their printed ballots for accuracy.
- $4.1 million to install bar code readers at each polling site to allow voters to independently verify their choices. The estimated cost for research and development of the technology would be an additional $600,000.
- $2.7 million for training election workers.
Money is one thing; time is another. McGowan said a proposal seeking manual audits for every race on the ballot — instead of at least one statewide contest after general, primary, runoff and special elections as required by Georgia law — would be too time-consuming and drain the resources of counties.
Georgia hits ‘emotional’ milestone: one night without hoteling foster kids
It was just one night, but Sept. 8 marked a “huge” and “emotional” milestone, the head of the state’s foster care system said, when Georgia did not have to temporarily house a single child in a hotel or office.
The practice, known as hoteling, has persisted for years in Georgia and across the country.
The state managed to escape it for a night, Candice Broce, director of the state’s Division of Family and Children Services and commissioner of the Department of Human Services, said this week while appearing before a panel of state senators who are studying foster care and adoption issues.
“After months and months — years — of our agency, through DFCS, focusing on ending hoteling and trying as many different strategies and creative ideas that we could possibly fathom ... on Sept. 8, we reached zero,” Broce said. “We had, on that night, no child in our custody staying in a hotel or office.”
About this time last year, Broce said, it wasn’t unusual for there to be up to 70 children being kept in a hotel on the same night.
The night before Broce spoke to the senators, the number was three: a 17-year-old girl in Douglas County who may be a victim of human trafficking, a 10-year-old boy in Stephens County who Broce said has “extreme behaviors” and a “very traumatic past,” and a 14-year-old Coffee County boy with “extreme behaviors” who had been discharged from an emergency room earlier that day.
That’s an accurate representation of the types of children who end up living in hotels or offices. Developmental, mental health or behavioral issues often play a role.
It’s an expensive problem for the system, which had about 10,500 children under its care earlier this year.
DFCS officials estimate it costs an average of $1,200 a day to pay for food and lodging — when staying in a hotel — for each child and the wages of multiple staff members to ensure 24/7 supervision. That also factors in the cost of damage that often occurs to the buildings where the children are housed.
Between June 2021 and June 2022, while several children were being housed in Fulton County DFCS offices on Fairburn Road, Atlanta police responded to 246 calls for service. The majority of those calls were for reports of missing people, but several were in response to more serious offenses, such as the arrests of teens accused of assaulting staff or each other and at least one instance where police reported having to use force to detain a foster child.
Political expedience
- DeSantis-Newsom debate swings to Georgia: Georgia will serve as middle ground for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and California Gov. Gavin Newsom when they square off in a debate. Fox News announced this past week that it will host the event Nov. 30 somewhere in Georgia, although a precise location and format has not been determined. Sean Hannity will serve as moderator for what Fox News is calling a “red vs. blue state debate.” Newsom insisted the debate be held in a swing state, originally agreeing to meet DeSantis in Georgia, Nevada or North Carolina.
- Georgia partners with other states to share voter info: Georgia has entered into cooperation agreements with Alabama, Florida and Virginia to share voter registration information and cancel those who have moved. All three of those states have left the Electronic Registration Information Center, although Georgia and 24 other states remain members of the voter accuracy group. Nine Republican-led states have withdrawn from ERIC amid conservative activists’ criticisms of the group, including concerns about sharing sensitive voter information and objections to notifying unregistered residents that they can sign up to vote. Georgia has also solidified its partnership with South Carolina — which remains a member of ERIC — for sharing voter information. The secretary of state’s office has credited ERIC with helping it cancel or make inactive 432,000 Georgia voter registrations over the past two years.
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