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HUD must get better at stopping Section 8 fraud

If true, the allegations against Lorena Loren, the former director of the St. Clair Housing Commission , are disturbing on a number of levels. Federal investigators allege Loren embezzled more than $300,000 from the housing commission between 2008 and 2016, when she retired. Most heartbreaking is that the money that Loren allegedly misdirected into her own pockets and those of some of her family members was meant to help low income people afford decent housing . Stealing from poor people is a special kind of despicable. Stealing from low- income families to buy a range of goods worth $165,000 and ranging from beauty supplies to alcoholic beverages, which investigators say Loren did with a housing commission credit card , is lower than despicable. Beside abusing the credit card, investigators say Loren abused Section 8 housing vouchers to pay herself and family members rent for apartments and tenants that didn’t exist and to pay themselves to live in their own dwellings. What bot...

U.S. Lawmakers Seek Kushner Company Records on Maryland Apartments

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Morningside Park, a Kushner Companies- owned housing complex , in Middle River, Maryland (Philip Montgomery for The New York Times) Maryland’s two U.S. senators and four of its U.S. House representatives , all Democrats, sent a letter today to the large real- estate company owned by the family of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump ’s son-in-law and senior adviser, demanding information about the company’s management of 17 apartment complexes it owns in the state. The letter to Kushner Companies came in response to a May 23 article co-published by ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine investigating management practices at the rental complexes, most of which are in the suburbs of Baltimore, as well as an article this week in The Baltimore Sun that revealed additional details . The original story described the highly aggressive legal tactics that Kushner Companies has used to pursue tenants who owed back rent or had left their leases early — even tenants who left the complexes...

Residents hope buyer will rehab apartments But experts say slim chance Hidden Cove will be renovated

April 06, 1998 | By Larry Carson | Larry Carson,SUN STAFF Dundalk residents who last month rejected a government-aided plan to renovate the Hidden Cove Apartments over fears it would cater to the poor hold out hope that a new buyer will appear and convert the 32-year-old complex into elderly housing or condominiums. But neither is likely, say a variety of county officials and real estate experts , who predict more slow decline for the unprofitable 30- acre waterfront complex in West Inverness , a densely populated community of about 2,000 brick townhouses. The $ 9 million sale price , combined with the multimillion-dollar cost to renovate or demolish the 504-unit, three- story brick complex , makes any purchase or extensive redevelopment problematic without government aid , county officials and real estate experts say. "The numbers won't crunch" for a conventionally financed deal , said county Councilman Louis L. DePazzo, a Dundalk Democrat who supported the plann...

LIHC Investment Group donates ownership stake in Close Building to Just-A-Start Corporation

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Boston, MA  LIHC Investment Group, one of the nation’s largest owners of affordable housing, has donated its ownership stake in the Close Building to Just-A- Start Corporation , a community development corporation focused on the preservation and expansion of affordable housing opportunities in Cambridge and nearby communities. “Just-A-Start has been an invaluable partner in the Close Building, and under their stewardship the property will be preserved and maintained as affordable housing for tenants and the community for generations to come,” said Andrew Gendron, principal, LIHC Investment Group. “Quality, affordable housing is the foundation of healthy neighborhoods and this donation will allow Just-A-Start to continue and expand its mission in a very tight housing market .” “This generous donation assures the preservation of this property as affordable housing,” said Deborah Ruhe, executive director of Just-A-Start. “We will leverage this donation to support renovations and upgra...