HUD ends subsidy payments to Victory Square Apartments, to help tenants move to new homes

Federal housing officials have terminated their contract — and the thousands of dollars in monthly subsidy payments that go with it — with the New York-based owner of Victory Square Apartments in Canton after the owner failed to fix the alarming conditions that officials say threaten tenants’ health and safety.

Victory Square tenants, while welcoming the news, say the move has left them in housing limbo.

Officials with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Detroit office have notified Troy Green, whose Green Victory Square has owned Victory Square Apartments since 2021, that, as of Monday, it has ended all rental subsidies that it had been paying to help house low-income tenants at the 81-unit complex, which includes three apartment buildings at 1206 Lippert Road NE, 1209 Eighth St. NE and 1223 Eighth St. NE.

The Canton Repository detailed the problems at Victory Square in a story published in October.

HUD payment records that the Repository obtained through a public records request show the federal housing agency paid Green Victory Square an average of $31,000 a month in rental assistance for qualified tenants at Victory Square since 2021.

The letter also bars Green Victory Square from renting any units at Victory Square Apartments to new eligible, assisted tenants. It also cannot raise the rents of existing tenants and it is required to cooperate with HUD’s procedures to relocate the existing eligible tenants to housing that meets the agency’s standards.

HUD cites Green Victory Square’s failure to correct numerous deficiencies, particularly those posing health, safety and other immediate risks, at the complex, despite multiple warnings since August by federal housing officials and Canton City building code inspectors.

The three-page letter is accompanied by 128 pages of photos from an October site visit that show substandard conditions, such as damaged interior walls and ceilings; numerous areas with mold and mildew; infestations of rodents, roaches and other insects; leaking sinks, toilets, bathtubs and sewage pipes; deteriorated kitchen cabinets; damaged floors and floor coverings; missing and damaged kitchen appliances; missing smoke detectors; and inoperable laundry room equipment. A more thorough HUD inspection conducted a week later gave the property a failing score of 20 out of a possible 100 points.

Amanda Inderbitzin, vice president of asset management for Green National, which is the parent company of Green Victory Square, said the company is in “active conversations” with HUD and the city of Canton on both a short- and long-term plan to remedy any deficiencies that exist at Victory Square.

“We look forward to finding a resolution here that is best for HUD, the city, and most importantly the residents,” said Inderbitzin, who declined further comment due to the ongoing discussions.

What about the tenants at Victory Square Apartments?

In a letter to Victory Square tenants in December, HUD officials said the agency would provide them with a tenant protection voucher that they could use to find a new place to live. The agency also pledged to help them move with financial assistance and a relocation contractor. Tenants believed they would have the vouchers before HUD ended its contract with Victory Square.

But as of Friday, the tenants still have yet to receive their vouchers. And some of them are beginning to lose hope.

Annah Williams, who has served as the leader of Victory Square’s tenant union, said residents have been continually harassed since they first banded together last summer to demand change. She said the harassment, such as managers threatening eviction over small infractions, has worsened after HUD notified Victory Square’s owners that they were losing their monthly rental subsidy.

She also said the physical conditions of their apartments have continued to deteriorate since the summer, including some units having no heat over the holidays. Other tenants said the property manager has responded only to emergency requests.

“We have some tenants talking about moving on their own, which they can’t afford to do,” Williams said. “We have a tenant talking about going to the Refuge of Hope just to have someplace to stay other than here. I have another tenant talking about staying in her car, so she doesn’t have to deal with the issues.

"She said it’s not like she can use her bathroom to shower, and the water is not safe so it’d be about the same. But it shouldn’t be that way. … I didn’t get this all going for people to end up in a worse predicament than how it started.”

Williams has been working with representatives from the NAACP, Canton For All People, Legacy in Action, Community Legal Aid, Stark Social Workers Network, community activists, Canton City Council and Access Health to get help for residents to move, but they need the vouchers first.

“It’s just getting really strenuous on everybody here,” she said.

HUD spokesperson Ashlee Strong said Thursday that she was looking into the issue. She also is trying to find answers to the Repository's questions about why a HUD inspector gave Victory Square a passing score in early August and whether Green Victory Square's failure to remedy problems there affects any of the other federally subsidized properties owned by Troy Green and Green National.

Green, whose companies have been permanently barred from owning and operating federally subsidized properties in New York for failing to address significant housing code violations, owns more than a dozen other HUD-affiliated properties in Ohio, according to HUD records.

Canton may file lawsuit

Separate from HUD’s actions, the city of Canton has notified Green Victory Square, its property management company Arnold Grounds Apartment Management & Affordable Housing Specialists and its bank Capital Corporate Services Inc. that they have until mid-February to fix the deficiencies. If they don’t, the city intends to file a civil lawsuit in Stark County Common Pleas Court and ask a judge to appoint a receiver to take possession and control of the property to fix the conditions that the city has deemed constitute a public nuisance.

Green Victory Square also owes the city of Canton more than $65,000 in fines for not meeting the city’s building code. Inspectors found multiple violations at nearly all of Victory Square’s 81 units and none of the violations have been corrected, according to J.R. Rinaldi, chief of staff for the Canton City Building Department.

Green Victory Square also faces a lawsuit in Canton Municipal Court by Miracle Plumbing & Heating Company that states it is owed $3,223 for plumbing repairs it made at Victory Square in May. Green Victory Square’s attorneys claim Miracle Plumbing breached the contract by not performing and denies owing the money. A trial is scheduled for March.

Reach Canton Repository staff writer Kelli Weir at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: HUD ends subsidy payments to Victory Square Apartments in Canton