Back in 2008 we listed the eleven subsidized housing properties with the lowest physical inspection scores from HUD. One of those properties, Parkside Village of Waco, recently received another failing inspection stores and will likely be shut down by HUD. (While two other Waco properties appeared on a more recent list of two subsidized housing [...]
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Tag Archives: Substandard apartments
Update: HUD’s Public Inspection Scores
February 9, 2010
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Last week we pointed to HUD’s release of 2009 Physical Inspection Scores for subsidized properties. Eric Dexheimer at the Austin American Statesman followed up on the story this morning, adding some insight about American Housing Foundation, the owner of one of the lowest scoring properties in the state. If you haven’t followed the stories, be [...]
Read moreHUD fails 14 percent of Texas subsidized properties inspected in physical inspections
January 25, 2010
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Back in 2008 we presented data on physical inspection scores of subsidized housing in Texas. HUD has updated this dataset to reflect more recent inspections, and things are still bad. 56 of 388 properties inspected (14%) by HUD in 2009 received a failing score (i.e. less than 60 on a 0-100 scale) . The ten [...]
Read moreTexas cities should place derelict apartments in receivership
November 14, 2008
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Heather K. Way, director of the Community Development Law Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law, read my comments about Mayor White’s recent efforts to stop a Houston landlord from abandoning 1000 low-income renters living in a run down Houston apartment project. Her reaction was that Houston needed to more aggressively use receivership [...]
Read moreMayor White saves 1000 renters from eviction but fundamental low-income housing issues remain
November 9, 2008
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Houston Mayor Bill White acted quickly and responsibly in preventing the owners of the 600 unit Houston La Casita apartment project from abandoning the property after collecting the rent money. (Read story from the Houston Chronicle). But the underlying question remains: what is the city going to do to address the massive affordable rental housing [...]
Read moreAnalysis of HUD report on low scoring subsidized housing in Texas
October 12, 2008
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A total of 107 or 9.4 percent of HUD assisted housing apartment developments in Texas earned a very low score in the latest round of physical inspections. The HUD Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) physical inspection scores measure, among other things, the condition of a property’s common areas, units, and utility systems. The developments with [...]
Read moreSomething went terribly wrong at the Pleasant Village Apartments
August 5, 2008
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“This is a terrible place to live, and I just don’t know how to get out.” – a resident of the Pleasant Village Apartments in Dallas. Something awful happened at Dallas’ Pleasant Village Apartments last Wednesday. Here’s the chronology as reported in the Dallas Morning News. 10:30 p.m. Tuesday: A fight between girls at the [...]
Read moreHouston’s fair housing failure segregates Katrina evacuees in SW slum apartments
July 21, 2008
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Today’s dangerous housing problems in the Southwestern part of Houston have been greatly exacerbated by the actions of Houston city government in the settlement of large numbers of Katrina evacuees in the area. But the problem does not lie solely in past actions. The City of Houston, in violation of provisions of the 1968 Fair [...]
Read moreTwo proposed tools to get aggressive with slum landlords
July 20, 2008
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For the past two days I have been exploring in this blog ways to deal with the massive problem of substandard apartments that has emerged in Houston. The challenge is to get the land(slum)lords to repair and maintain their property. The current approach taken by the City of Houston, whereby the city issues citations that [...]
Read moreHouston Mayor Bill White tells Houstonians not to worry about substandard apartments
July 19, 2008
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I was proud to present Houston Mayor Bill White an award in 2007 on behalf of the National Low Income Housing Coalition for his work on behalf of the survivors in the early days following Hurricane Katrina. I am sorry to say the mayor’s response to the death of two children from a collapsed staircase [...]
Read moreIt is too late for two children but now is the time for Houston to act on slum apartments
July 18, 2008
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It happened again last night. More kids were hurt, this time killed, in the slum apartments the city of Houston tolerates in the Southwest section of the city. It should not have happened. The City of Houston has long known about the deplorable living conditions in this area. The Houston Chronicle has splashed it over [...]
Read moreDisgraceful indifference to substandard conditions in Houston
June 17, 2008
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In an outstanding piece of investigative journalism Houston Chronicle staff writers Matt Stiles, Mike Snyder and Julio Cortez have exposed the astounding indifference of the City of Houston and the city’s political leadership toward substandard apartments in the city. To read this story headlined “Operators of squalid apartments ignore the law to prey on the [...]
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Bo McCarver’s housing news clips for May
- Mitt Romney at private fundraiser: I might eliminate HUD – The Washington Post
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Bo’s housing news clips: Study finds zoning segregates lower-income students in lower-scoring schools.
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Texas LIHTC housing program rocked by second earthquake in two months
- Low-Income Housing Program Compels Building in Poor Texas Areas – NYTimes.com
