ATLANTA, Ga. – Sen. Jon Ossoff is launching an investigation into Georgia’s harmful rental situations in public housing, simply two days after launching an an identical investigation that can search solutions on the identical problem all through the nation.
Atlanta has had its fair proportion of points over Mission-Based mostly Rental Help, and Ossoff’s announcement got here the exact same day former residents of the dilapidated Forest Cove housing complicated filed a lawsuit towards the property administration firm that owns it.
“Studies elevate critical issues that some PBRA-funded property homeowners, which obtain thousands and thousands in taxpayer {dollars} yearly, have uncared for upkeep, property rehabilitation, and safety,” mentioned Ossoff. “Their actions name into query HUD’s talents to guard tenants and to carry homeowners accountable.”
Whereas Ossoff’s investigation will enlist the assistance of the federal Division of Housing and City Improvement, some native housing advocates put simply as a lot blame on that division as they do on landlords accountable for items with black mould, sewage leaks and unclean air high quality.
“HUD merely doesn’t implement their very own guidelines and that’s egregious,” mentioned Tim Franzen with the Housing Justice League. “HUD is deeply implicated within the failure of our group to offer protected and inexpensive housing to of us that actually want it.”
Franzen mentioned HUD has set of pointers that will make for protected and dependable public housing — in the event that they adopted them. However as a substitute, he says they ignore tenant complaints and fail to carry landlords accountable for failing inspections.
“When landlords know that they can’t comply with guidelines and get away with it, a few of them are going to benefit from that,” he mentioned.
Franzen mentioned eight folks died final yr alone attributable to causes attributed to unsafe rental situations at properties owned by Millenia Property Administration, the group that owns Forest Cove and the identical firm that was named within the lawsuit filed by former tenants Friday.
“It’s a daring assertion, however I feel it must be mentioned that HUD does have blood on their arms,” mentioned Franzen. “To place (renters) in an setting the place they don’t have clear air in the home, or they’ve poisonous mould, or they’ve fuel leaks, and after they report these items, they’re not being taken care of, and when HUD will get concerned, HUD is just not taking the motion that they need to be.”
Franzen additionally put strain on state lawmakers who tried however failed to cross laws final yr that will have supplied extra energy to renters.
“12 months after yr, the Gold Dome has not made working folks a precedence and that is the consequence of that,” he mentioned. “The precedence is ensuring that landlords are okay, that they’re getting their checks no matter whether or not they’re doing their jobs or not.”