Little Rock's public housing authority reported nearly $50,000 in unmet rental payments and fees during the first quarter of 2017, the highest shortfall in recent years.
For the same period, between Jan. 1 and March 31, the Metropolitan Housing Alliance began eviction proceedings for 31 tenants for failing to pay rent, late fees, and electric and maintenance charges.
According to a report released by the agency to its board last week, the amounts owed by the 31 tenants totaled $47,851, about 10 percent of the $493,314 that tenants were charged during that period.
The amount owed is up $23,874, or nearly 100 percent, over last year's first quarter, compelling the housing authority to take a hardened stance on delinquent tenants, officials said.
"The housing authority is getting very serious about 'you got to pay,' and not letting time go by with balances building up," agency attorney J. Mark Davis said during the housing authority's most recent board meeting.
The agency's budget projects collecting $1.8 million this year in rent payments from tenants in its roughly 900 low-rent units. The agency collects an additional $1.6 million in subsidies through the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department for its public housing program, which aids roughly 2,400 of the city's most vulnerable residents.
Tenants living in public housing are required to contribute 30 percent of their adjusted gross incomes, with federal subsidies making up the rest.
The majority of 2017's eviction orders occurred in Jesse Powell Towers, where the ousted tenants owed amounts ranging from $77 to $2,719. Other evictions occurred in Sunset Terrace Apartments, Parris Towers, Cumberland Towers, and in homes redeveloped through the agency's Neighborhood Stabilization Program.
"We ain't in the business of putting folks out, but if I don't pay my mortgage, guess what, I get put out," said Housing Commissioner Kenyon Lowe Sr. "We can do any and everything to accommodate folks, but it's just the nature of it."
Board Chairman Ted Dickey said the purpose of public housing is "to house people that pay, so that we can continue to provide housing."
If a tenant falls into delinquency, the agency is required to offer a payment plan. Under such a plan, a tenant pays a prorated amount of the outstanding balance on top of the monthly rent.
"It's not to make the resident rent-burdened, because there's a certain percentage you don't want to pass so they can still manage their rent payments plus their past-due amount," said Dana Arnette, deputy executive director of the housing agency. "It's all in efforts to help them avoid being evicted."
Of the 31 evictions this year, many tenants were several months behind in their rents, resulting in compounded late fees. The highest amount owed was $8,133 in rent and $305 in late fees, according to the agency's report.
Those who default receive written notices giving them 14 days to pay. If the amount due is not addressed before a two-week deadline, the tenant receives a lease termination notification and is given three days to move out.
If the tenant fails to move out, the housing agency files an unlawful detainer complaint in circuit court, and the tenant is given an additional five days to respond. If the court is met with inaction after the five-day period, it issues a writ of possession that allows the sheriff's office to post a 24-hour notice to vacate. After that, the residence is cleaned out, and the locks are changed.
"It is a legal procedure, but they have what is tantamount to three weeks to a month as the whip is coming down," Davis said.
Most of the evicted residents simply abandon their units, agency officials said, leaving behind their unpaid balances and often some of their belongings. In such cases, tenants are prohibited from entering into any public housing or Section 8 agreement across the nation until their debt is paid.
Also, public housing agencies in Arkansas can recoup past-due balances by seizing the state tax returns of the former tenants.
On rarer occasions, evictees prefer to have their day in court.
In November, the Metropolitan Housing Alliance filed 12 unlawful detainer complaints in circuit court, and a handful of those resulted in litigation.
Parris Towers resident Raymond Caldwell, through his attorney Stacy Fletcher of the Center for Arkansas Legal Services, filed a restraining order against the agency to "protect himself against further harmful acts by the landlord." His suit alleged that his residence had bedbugs, and he was the victim of racial discrimination by the building's management.
The suit, filed in December in circuit court, also alleges that a property manager "may have incorrectly computed rent charges and/or failed to maintain tenant rent accounts correctly."
Another resident, Mabel Bealer, filed a counterclaim to her unlawful detainer complaint, arguing, among other things, that she had requested a hearing after receiving her 14-day notice, but that the request was ignored.
Bealer also accused the housing agency of targeting her for eviction because of the numerous complaints she had filed with various governmental entities over the agency's failure to provide a "safe and clean living environment" at Parris Towers.
Her case, in which she is representing herself, has been assigned to Judge Wendell Griffen. Bealer has been paying her monthly rent amount into a court registry as the case continues.
In May of last year, Chandra Profit sued the Metropolitan Housing Alliance accusing it of failing to "comply with rules by Federal authorities dealing with the rights and responsibilities of the tenants," reads her suit, filed by attorney David Hodges.
One exhibit in the case is a handwritten note from Profit to the housing agency in November 2016 in which she asked the administration to "please pardon my delay [of payment]. There is a crisis in the family."
A bench trial is set for October in that case, although Profit has since moved out of Parris Towers, citing bedbugs.
"We're in the business of housing people, and because of the nature of our program, we house some of the most vulnerable people in the city," Metropolitan Housing Alliance Executive Director Rodney Forte said earlier this year. "So we make a lot of efforts to make sure that people are paying their rent. We work with folks. We have payment plans."
"On the business side, I'm always here with a pretty hefty collection issue that's always difficult to deal with," he said.
Metro on 06/11/2017