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Fri Nov 20 20:27:44 PST 2009

NEWS

Section 8 In Madison

Zac Schultz

Posted Wednesday, November 18, 2009 -- 6:01 p.m. By Zac Schultz Madison: Nick Dorneanu bought Fairwood Arms Apartments five years ago. At the time, 16 of the 36 units were occupied by Section 8 tenants. "At that time I looked at it, wow, guaranteed rent." Fairwood Arms is located at the intersection of Crescent Road and Allied Drive-one of Madison's worst neighborhoods. It didn't take Nick long to realize he had problems, "Within the first couple weeks." Nick says they were generating 30 police calls a month. "It was sometimes 22 police calls per building, which is a 12 unit." So he started to track which apartments the police were going to the most. "Within a matter of months I realized that most of the problems that I had were generated from Section 8 apartments." First, a background lesson: Section 8 is the common name for a federal housing program that gives vouchers to low income residents, typically families, single mothers and the elderly. The tenant pays about 30% of their income towards rent. The government pays the rest. There is a cap on how much the government will pay. In Madison it ranges from $788 for a one bedroom apartment, up to $1,547 for a four bedroom. Most vouchers are portable, meaning they travel with the tenant. "With the idea that if there's job opportunities that person can take their voucher, go to the new location and get a job," says Agustin Olvera, Director of Housing Operations for the Community Development Authority, which runs Madison's Section 8 program. Olvera says in 2001 Madison went from 1,000 to 1,400 vouchers. As the city grew out, more landlords started accepting Section 8 to fill old and empty buildings. "We went from 300 landlords to 500 landlords particiapting in the program." Olvera says they make an effort to spread Section 8 tenants around the city. "We get bonus points for dispersion." In 2008, a study in the city of Memphis showed as Section 8 tenants dispersed throughout the city, crime followed. Researchers say the new communities didn't have the resources to handle the needs of Section 8 tenants. Madison Police Chief Noble Wray says the city is mapping crime, poverty and Section 8 housing, trying to see if crime is dispersing along with Section 8. "You cannot, at this point in time, rule out it as being a factor. That's why we're looking at it." On the north side of town, Jose Ross has lived at Northport Apartments for 20 years, enjoying the simple things in life, like jazz, gardening and family. "We're community people." Like everyone else at Northport and across the street at Packers Townhouses Jose and his wife have been supported by Section 8. "We've had a lot of help in this community where we're at." The two complexes are housing based Section 8, meaning the vouchers stay with the rental unit. If the tenant leaves, so does the support. That results in a turnover rate of just 4%. "We moved here in '05," says Lakeeta Bey, who moved here from the infamous Cabrini Green projects in Chicago, with her daughter Jentarria. Lakeeta says they were homeless and living with anyone who would take them in. She says the Section 8 housing was necessary to pay the rent, but more important was the emotional support. "No child support, doing it on my own. I needed this community. I needed the support from all of the staff that's here." Now her daughter is thriving, and Lakeeta gives back by helping out. "I'm off of work so I'm down here volunteering for the community." Today it's the community newsletter, the issue that features a picture of her daughter in a sewing class. "I can't even make out what she's sewing," Lakeeta laughs. These are not the kind of Section 8 tenants Nick Dorneanu dealt with at Fairwood Arms near Allied Drive. "While I had Section 8 tenants I had high police calls, crime was up. A lot of their places were used as motels for their friends." "If you do have Section 8 you pretty much become a babysitter." Nick says often it wasn't the Section 8 tenants themselves, it was their company. Single mothers soon had live in boyfriends. "They come in, they start drinking, they do some drugs and after a while a fight starts." Nick was spending 120 hours a week on site. Worse, he found it was extemely difficult to evict a tenant on Section 8. "If a Section 8 tenant gets evicted, most likely they will lose their Section 8 voucher. So they will fight you." So he wouldn't renew their leases. "As they left, my complex became more peaceful." Longtime residents can attest to that. Eddie Golden has lived at Fairwood Arms for years. "It was a lot of drug problems. Nick's cleaned it up quite a bit. Now we don't have any problems anymore. Nice place to raise a family." Tim Weeks has lived there for two years. "I have no problems here at all. It's just coming up and down Allied Drive." He doesn't know about Section 8, and gives Nick the credit for finding good renters. "Down here, where Nick has everything going on it's been a really nice neighborhood." Nick says five years into owning Fairwood Arms he only has one Section 8 renter left, and he says he won't be renewing her lease either. Nick says she's not the problem, but her son is now a teenager and many of his friends are causing problems. It is illegal in Madison and Dane County to discriminate against a tenant because of their Section 8 status. Nick says he hasn't done that, he's just removed tenants that cause the most problems. Carmen Porco is the Executive Director at Northport and Packers, and scoffs at the idea that crime follows Section 8 tenants. "I see Section 8 not as the enemy, or as the problem. I don't see the people as a problem." Jose and Lakeeta also bristle at the notion of a connection between crime, poverty and Section 8. "You blaming crime on poor people or something, with Section 8?" asks Jose. "Most people use Section 8 as a tool. We've used it as a tool to advance ourselves." "I don't feel like because I live under Section 8 housing authorities that I'm in poverty," says Lakeeta. Porco says the crime rate at Northport and Packer is low and the kids are successful. "Why is it working here? What are the ingredients, what are the dynamics here?" The obvious answer is that all the resources are in one spot. Northport and Packers are on the busline, near schools, the library and shopping. And each complex has a community center with a computer lab and a head start program. All of this would seem to support the concept of community based Section 8 housing. But Agustin Olvera, Director of Madison's Section 8 program, says one goal is to disperse low income tenants across the city. "We get bonus points for dispersion." Porco says it doesn't matter. "It's not whether they're concentrated or dispersed. It's how you honor and accept them." Porco says it's more about the environment created by management. Nick Dorneanu agrees with that. "You need to spend time on property. You need to know your tenants," says Nick. Nick cleaned up his complex by eliminating bad tenants, many of them Section 8. Nick says the problem is often the landlords. "There's other landlords on Allied Drive who take Section 8 and just don't care." Madison Police Chief Noble Wray says they're tracking Section 8 and crime, but just as importantly they're tracking bad landlords. "How well apartments that have Section 8 vouchers are managed I think is critical here too." Back at Northport, Jose would like to complete his success story by finally buying a house. "I wish I did have a house so I could have my basement." He's making progress; he and his wife make so much they no longer qualify for Section 8 rent assistance. "We pay full market rent." But in the meantime, it's not a bad place to be. "This is an ideal community for us."

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