Aging Apartment Complexes Under Expiring Section 8, Other Housing Subsidy Contracts Have Salivating Developers "Circling Like Buzzards To Snatch Them Up," Leaving Long-Time Poor, Elderly Residents Fearing Skyrocketing Rents (Or Worse); Residents Consider Legal Action

In East Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville Public Radio reports:

• Residents of an East Nashville apartment complex are considering their legal options in response to a potential doubling of their monthly rents.
  
  New ownership and renovations are expected at the 45-year-old Howe Gardens complex. But residents who met Thursday night say they were blindsided by the rent notifications posted on their doors.
  
  Tracey McCartney, a lawyer with Tennessee Fair Housing Council, said she worried about residents who live on government subsidies.(1)
  
  “As housing that’s been subsidized for a period of time by the government gets out from under that arrangement then developers are circling like buzzards to snatch them up,” McCartney said.
  
  Residents want a meeting with the new owners, who have apologized for the abrupt rent letters.

Source: Rent Hike Has East Nashville Apartment Residents Considering Legal Action.

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(1) The Tennessee Fair Housing Council ("TFHC") is a private, non-profit advocacy organization whose mission is to eliminate housing discrimination throughout Tennessee. Our enforcement program is based in Nashville and concentrates on Davidson, Cheatham, Dickson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson counties.

Among other things, TFHC takes in dozens of complaints of housing discrimination each year. It investigates those complaints, counsels the clients, and, in some cases, represents them in administrative actions or lawsuits. It also assists complainants in filing administrative complaints even where it doesn't provide representation.