Burns asks HUD to conduct audit on Section 8 policies

Dec. 13—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Two local elected officials have now made direct appeals to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to gather information about how the federal Section 8 housing choice voucher program affects Johnstown.

On Monday, state Rep. Frank Burns, D-East Taylor Township, announced that he sent a letter to HUD asking for its Office of lnspector General to perform a compliance audit for Johnstown Housing Authority's Section 8 policies.

"The purpose of this audit — and any further investigation it may yield — would be to determine if tenants in the Johnstown Housing Authority's Section 8 Program are meeting all HUD eligibility requirements, including passing any criminal background and credit checks that are mandated," Burns wrote in the letter.

Burns, in a press release statement, added: "HUD supplies the funding and writes the rules, so I'm asking them to start by verifying the money is being spent properly and the rules are being followed."

Johnstown Housing Authority Executive Director Michael Alberts said he is willing to meet with Burns to discuss JHA's work.

"After reading this latest press release from Representative Burns, it appears there are still some misunderstandings about how our programs operate," Alberts said. "We are always available to discuss our business and further explain our programs."

The request came a few days after U.S. Rep. Dr. John Joyce, R-Blair, asked HUD to examine the Section 8 program in Johnstown.

Burns and Joyce, in their separate letters, brought up the issue of "portability."

Per federal policy, eligible low-income individuals can acquire vouchers through any housing authority and then "port" them to live within the footprint of any other housing authority across the country, often leaving the issuing authority paying the cost.

For example, Philadelphia Housing Authority has such a big backlog of Section 8 requests that it has stopped adding names to the list, but Johnstown, in comparison, currently has about 200 unused vouchers. An individual from Philadelphia can establish residency in Cambria County, get a voucher and then move anywhere, including back to Philadelphia.

That has played a role in creating a transient population in Johnstown that affects many aspects of local life, including the economy, education and law enforcement.

"This situation cries out for attention from the investigative experts at HUD's Office of Inspector General," Burns said. "The Johnstown Housing Authority doesn't and shouldn't exist to be a feeder system for public housing in Philadelphia — so why not start with verifying that all tenants, no matter where they are from, meet HUD's eligibility requirements?"

Burns recently sent a Right-to-Know request to the Johnstown Housing Authority seeking information about the program.

Another local elected official, state Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr., R-Richland Township, hosted a Section 8 public hearing in October. Then, earlier this month, Langerholc said he plans to introduce a bill calling for the creation of Public Housing Safety Committee within the commonwealth's housing authorities to determine if applicants "present a threat to the health and safety of the community."

JHA already conducts its own screenings.

"Without question, thorough review processes must be conducted," Langerholc said at the time of his announcement, "but it should be by a committee that also includes community members with training and history, looking for red flags within a person's background and case details that might not be so obvious when reading through a list of criminal charges.

"This isn't something that should be passed on to JHA staffers who have no background in criminal law or legal training to understand what some of these complex (criminal charges) can actually mean."