Saturday, November 12, 2011

Rent Skimming Suspected As New Haven Landlords Allegedly Pocket Section 8 Rent Subsidies While Stiffing Banks On Mortgage Payments

In New Haven, Connecticut, the New Haven Independent reports:
  • Poverty landlords Janet Dawson and Michael Steinbach found a way to make money in the recession—stop paying the bank, let properties deteriorate, but continue collecting tens of thousands of dollars a month in checks from New Haven’s housing authority.


  • The Housing Authority of New Haven (HANH) is sending Section 8 federal rent subsidy checks to Dawson’s and Steinbach’s various corporate entities for at least 73 rental apartments, according to HANH. That amounted to nearly $80,000 paid out by HANH to the two for the month of October alone.


  • Meanwhile, lenders are foreclosing on their homes across town. And even though Dawson and Steinbach stopped paying their mortgages on the properties, that hasn’t stopped New Haven’s housing authority from continuing to send them rent checks.

For more, see Slumlords Stiff Banks—& Rake In Sec. 8 Bucks.