HUD Terminates Section 8 Contract With 77-Unit Complex; Rent Subsidy Stops, Landlord Defaults On Mortgage, Tenants Fear Gentrification, Eviction

In Indianapolis, Indiana, The Indianapolis Star reports:

• [Cynthia] Moyo and others who live in the complex -- there are about 80 residents in the 77-unit building -- say it is quiet and livable. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development disagrees, saying Senate Manor's two buildings have "serious health, safety and security concerns" that the landlords have failed to adequately address.

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• [T]he buildings' owners argue they haven't been given a fair chance to make repairs and that HUD's inspections have been unfair. HUD, however, has stood firm, terminating its Section 8 housing contract with Senate Manor in April. It stopped sending payments to the landlords in July.

• One of the owners, Jerry Moss, said the loss of about $40,000 a month in subsidies has caused him and his partners to default on their mortgage. He said they will have to sell the buildings if the government's payments do not resume soon. The landlords and tenants have filed separate lawsuits(1) in federal court in hopes of persuading HUD to reinstate its contract with Senate Manor.

For more, see Senate Manor tenants take on HUD (Termination of Section 8 contract unfair, suits allege).

(1) Unlike most disputes involving landlords & tenants, in this case they find themselves siding together. According to the story, the tenants' lawsuit says Senate Manor is being threatened with foreclosure as construction starts on new "luxury apartments" across the street. "They are simply trying to get buildings like this out of areas that are rehabbed and are considered to be gentrifying areas, basically displacing people to far less desirable neighborhoods," said Stephen Byers, the tenants' Indianapolis lawyer.