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Street roots May 25, 2012 3 LDLäjjt New federal guidelines for low- income housing support cut out explicit tenant protections regarding bed bug infestations BY A M A N D A WALDROUPE S T A F F W R IT E R he Department of Housing and Urban Development’s new landlord guidelines for dealing with bed bug infestations have some tenant-rights P H O T O C O U R T E S Y O F O R K IN B ed bugs, shown here craw ling on a mattress, have become widespread in recent years, sp a n n in g the United States. They are the subject o f advocates concerned that renters could be changes in federal guidelines fo r Section 8 vouchers that elim inate explicit protections to low-income tenants. on the hook for costly exterminations. The new guidelines were released in late April, replacing its prior notice that had been published in August. a treatment. It explicitly stated that owners effort.” In other parts of the notice, owners properties - including building owners, “It’s highly unusual for H U D to issue a “may not deny tenancy to a potential were also explicitly prohibited from landlords, property management notice and then in an extremely short resident on the basis of the tenant having charging tenants the cost of treating a bed companies, and tenants. period of time — experienced a prior bug infestation. “These are like guidance. It’s not as eight months — bed bug infestation.” The notice released in late April replaces powerful and as legal as regulations, but it’s change it,” says Ed It also had a the majority of the language from the the next best thing,” Gramlich says. Gramlich, the Everybody taow s that early “Tenant’s Rights and August notice. Most notably, it deletes the The notice only applies to project-based regulatory director response and appropriate Responsibilities” “Tenants Rights and Responsibilities” Section 8 subsidized housing — housing for the National Low section. Among section. The few references the notice where the Section 8 voucher is tied to the eoairanaleation between the Income Housing other things, it housing unit and cannot follow the voucher makes to tenants and what they can expect landlord and the tenant is Coalition, a national recipient — and multifamily insured and strongly urged from their landlords is a clear direction to c r s lie a l to e o n t r o llin p a n d advocacy tenants to report tenants to “fully cooperate with the assisted properties. T o r g a n iz a t io n e y e in g the notice change. b e d time yon have a deterrent tor tenants to report, it's going to have a negative Impact.” in f e s t a t i o n s a s s o o n (la n d lo r d ’s ) e ffo r t s to id e n tify a n d a d d r e s s as they knew of one. infestations.” It also advised “Usually, H U D is tenants that they very careful about could expect putting out notices.” treatments to start The August notice M U L T N O M A H C O U N T Y .. B E D B U G T A S K within five days, went into detail would not need to about bed bug move for treatments infestations and the to happen, and that variety of treatment “the tenant will not be expected to methods, and what contribute to the cost of the treatment tenants could expect from landlords during j Added to the notice is a vague sentence concerning tenant’s advocates the most, which they say opens the door to expecting tenants to pay for the cost of bed bug treatments: “(landlords’) requests for tenants to pay the costs of infestation treatment must be in accordance with the provision for tenant payment of damages.” Notices give broad guidance and rules for people associated with H U D subsidized L e e Jones, a H U D s p o k e s p e rs o n , sa ys there are “som e changes in tone, c e rta in ly ” in the new notice, “but it really did not see any change in the rights of responsibilities of residents.” He said the notice was revised after concerns had been brought to H U D by parties he would not name. He said part of the reason the notice was revised was to emphasize the necessity for tenants to See BU GGED , page 7 tjr Welcome the Street Summer Rally! Help take us into summer by supporting Street Roots. Create a team online and recruit your family, friends and coworkers to support Street Roots. Your efforts will go to support grassroots media, economic development through the vendor program and the Rose City Resource Guide. Be a team sport and help Street Roots today. How does it work? It’s super easy. Ill 111 Go to rally.streetroots.org. You can be a team of one or one Hundred. Here’s what to do: 1. Start by clicking the Create a Team tab 2. invite your friends, family and/or coworkers via e-mail or social media and start collecting donations today. (Add new team members that join your team.) ■S 3. Join us for the Street Roots Barbecue, noon, Sunday, June 24, at Irving Park (NE 7th and Fremont) and celebrate with us. Go to rally.streetroots.org. and join the fun today! M ission: Street Roots mission it to create income opportunities fo r people experiencing homelessness and poverty by producing a newspaper and other media that are catalysts fo r individual and social change.
