- THA shakeup in late ’80s brought reforms, By Ginnie Graham and Curtis Killman, June 6, 2010, Tulsa World: “THA has had a rocky history with Section 8, reaching a boiling point in the late 1980s with reports of mismanagement and discriminatory selection. In 1988, the nonprofit group Neighbor for Neighbor led the criticism against THA. After several months in a court battle, the group was successful in a lawsuit seeking Section 8 addresses and payments made to landlords. A Tulsa district judge ruled those were public records…”
- ‘Never had a problem’, By Ginnie Graham and Curtis Killman, June 6, 2010, Tulsa World: “Taking a look down the street from her porch, Zandrell Macon said she never planned to live in this neighborhood. The Section 8 tenant, who lives in the 800 block of East 52nd Street North, said she had to transfer her voucher from an earlier Section 8 rental home after problems with roach infestation, conflicts with the owner over making home repairs and being burglarized…”
- Unchecked, By Ginnie Graham and Curtis Killman, June 6, 2010, Tulsa World: “For 79-year-old Juanita Austin, having a Section 8 voucher means she can still afford to live in her home independently. From her manicured and fenced lawn on the 800 block of East 52nd Street North, she points to homes surrounding her property with plywood over windows, tarps over roofs and cars parked in front yards. ‘You see some of those boarded up across the street, and this one next door doesn’t mow the yard,’ Austin said. That house next door, with ‘Blood’ as graffiti on the side fence and weeds growing to mid-calf, did have a Section 8 tenant in December. By April, it was vacant and overgrown.’If you’re Section 8, you have to fix it up a little,’ she said. Regulations set by the U.S. Housing and Development Agency address the condition of the home, which taxpayers subsidize a portion of the rent for low-income families and individuals. However, nothing requires the Tulsa Housing Authority, which administers the program, to do background checks on code violations, taxes owed on the property or the criminal backgrounds of the owners…”
- Annual check-ups, By Ginnie Graham and Curtis Killman, June 7, 2010, Tulsa World: “Bruce Thompson starts the routine with a smile, handshake and a few questions: ‘Who owns the range and fridge?’ ‘Do you pay all your utilities?’ The tenant, Arlene, said she owns a couple of appliances and pays for the utilities. She didn’t want to give her last name in order to protect her family from ridicule, she said. ‘This is a wonderful thing, but people put you in a category when they find out you’re on Section 8,’ she said. ‘You’re stigmatized, and some people are flat-out rude.’ After introductions and initial questions, Thompson starts opening windows, closing and locking doors, flipping switches and eyeballing walls and corners. As the head of inspections for the Tulsa Housing Authority, Thompson goes down the checklist for the annual inspection of a home in the 1500 block of North Oswego Avenue. ‘Ours is more of a visual inspection,’ he said. ‘We don’t climb in attics or pull off (circuit) breaker panels.’ The Tulsa Housing Authority performs move-in and annual inspections on all of its nearly 4,400 Section 8 properties based on standards set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development…”
- Sneaking in, By Ginnie Graham and Curtis Killman, June 7, 2010, Tulsa World: “A murder suspect, two unregistered sex offenders and an armed robber are among people who either were approved as Section 8 tenants or lived with a voucher holder without authorization, a Tulsa World investigation has revealed. The four are among 62 people found by the World who had been arrested since January 2009 in Tulsa County on felony complaints or warrants. The home addresses that all gave to law enforcement officers match those of Section 8 units. Also, five parolees with felony convictions that included drug trafficking and robbery gave addresses that matched Section 8 homes within the past four years, the World’s analysis shows. Tulsa has nearly 4,400 Section 8 voucher holders…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty