Section 8 tenants waiting to be moved out of the “highly hazardous” Fairburn & Gordon I and II Apartments complex in west Atlanta are demanding answers after receiving a concerning letter from their landlord about their impending relocation.
Crystal Brown is one of the Fairburn & Gordon residents who found a letter attached to her screen door last Tuesday saying Section 8 recipients at the complex who aren’t in “good standing” with management would not receive a federal housing voucher to move into a new place.
“I was pissed off,” Brown said outside her home on Thursday.
Brown and others said they received the recent letter from Fairburn & Gordon’s management and grew worried it was a form of retaliation for speaking out about their living conditions.
A Fairburn & Gordon property manager hasn’t responded to a request for comment, but the letter raises questions about whether a landlord on the brink of losing a contract with the federal government over dangerous conditions on their property has the power to impact the government’s plans to relocate tenants to safer dwellings.
The letter, which was reviewed by Capital B Atlanta, said the “good standing” exemption applies to tenants who haven’t turned in their “annual paperwork” as well as those who are behind on rent. Some housing aid recipients at Fairburn & Gordon and elsewhere have told Capital B Atlanta they’ve gone years without receiving or signing a new lease.
“If you have not cooperated with Management with the above requirements, you will not be considered in ‘Good standing’ and not qualify for relocation!” the letter reads.
Brown said her lease is up to date, so the “good standing” exemption doesn’t apply to her, but she’s worried about others who receive supplemental benefit income and may owe back rent.
“Some people are not paying you rent because of you being a slum landlord and not fixing it,” she said of Fairburn & Gordon’s management team.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development officials last week reconfirmed their plans to end the agency’s contract with Fairburn & Gordon’s owners and relocate the complex’s housing aid tenants “in the near future,” declining to confirm a timeline.
HUD said on Thursday that it has a Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contract on “69 of the 102 units,” at Fairburn & Gordon. The agency said it does require residents to be in “good standing” to be eligible for relocation assistance, but it also doesn’t rely on property owners to decide who that applies to.
“There is a screening process conducted by the [Public Housing Agency] to establish eligibility for Tenant Protection Vouchers (TPV),” a HUD spokesperson said via email. “Most, if not all, tenants residing in units assisted under the Housing Assistance Payment Contract will qualify. Extenuating situations due to the Owner’s or Agent’s neglect will be considered.”
It’s been more than a month since HUD confirmed plans to abate its contract with Fairburn & Gordon’s owners for failing to bring the place up to code and relocate tenants who receive federal housing aid.
In October, the office of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens confirmed city and federal government inspectors found 81 housing code violations at the complex, including 13 classified as “highly hazardous” health and safety concerns, such as mold, roaches, heating, air conditioning, and electrical hazards.
The federal government’s Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) program pays all the monthly rent for housing aid recipients like Brown, who are unemployed and have no regular income. Those who may receive income through Social Security or other benefit programs are supposed to pay a portion of their rent, although some do not.
What happens to Fairburn & Gordon tenants who aren’t on Section 8?
Fairburn & Gordon tenant Necole Pruitt wants to know what happens to residents like her who aren’t on Section 8 and pay market rates for their rent. Pruitt said she pays $750 a month for her three-bedroom unit. Two-bedroom apartments at the complex run from $490 to $854 a month, according to the listing website rentable.co.
The 49-year-old Pruitt is a single mother of four who has lived at Fairburn & Gordon for the past five years. She said she’s tired of dealing with the complex’s repair issues and plans to move whether or not HUD helps her.
“I currently don’t have any heat or air [conditioning] and I have been without a working stove since September of last year,” Pruitt said.
Pruitt said she’s currently unemployed due to some chronic health issues and relies on her son to pay her rent.
“What happens to the other tenants that are stuck here paying rent?” she asked Capital B Atlanta via email earlier this month.
HUD says it has “no contractual or regulatory oversight over market rate renters,” but tenants like Pruitt can contact Atlanta Housing to determine if they’re eligible for other aid programs.
“Market rate tenants are not eligible for HUD [Tenant Protection Voucher] assistance,” the agency said.
Pruitt said that wasn’t the answer she was looking for. Despite living in Atlanta her entire life and working with Dickens’ new Housing Help Center, she said the price of housing in recent years has made the city unaffordable for people like her.
“Moving out of state is an option,” she said. “I have been looking at other cities. The main thing is finding something affordable.”
