Thursday, Jan. 5, 2006 | 7:27 a.m.
Driven from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, Tiffany Dunn moved into federally subsidized housing in Las Vegas, ready to begin a new life.
If only Las Vegas had been ready for her.
Three days before Christmas, her landlord taped an eviction notice to her door. The landlord, Platinum Properties GMAC, had no intention of throwing her out before Christmas, said James Allen, property manager for the company. But it wanted to break a logjam that kept the government from paying her rent for three months -- a jam over which Dunn had no control.
The government wasn't paying her rent because Dunn's apartment had not been inspected by the North Las Vegas Housing Authority to determine if it was suitable for federal Section 8 housing subsidies.
"I was totally shocked," said Dunn, 24, noting this was the first time she needed public assistance. She had fled Katrina in August after living in New Orleans for most of her life. She grabbed a few clothes, her diploma from Southern University and some books and left two days before Katrina hit.
At first, with just $600 in the bank, she moved 30 miles, to Silver Creek, Miss. But the storm wiped out power and water there, so she moved to Texas, where she had relatives. She eventually joined other relatives in Las Vegas, arriving "$300 in the hole."
"I am not used to being in need of assistance, so this was a new experience for me," said Dunn, who has a degree in computer information systems and wants to work as a substitute teacher.
It was also a new experience for North Las Vegas.
"We just were not designed to process 200 families in two to four weeks as we did with Katrina," said George Williams, Section 8 housing manager for the city's housing authority. He said his agency generally takes six months or longer to process a family for Section 8 housing.
His small staff includes one intake processor, four case workers and two federally certified Housing Quality Standard inspectors who are responsible for dealing with more than 1,300 families in the agency's Section 8 system.
With a Section 8 voucher, a person can seek a home anywhere in the private sector. A potential landlord agrees to accept an adjusted amount of rent -- generally less than the market price -- that the government will pay. The tenant is required to pay a small amount or nothing based on personal income.
Dunn, who works as a telemarketer for a local mortgage company, found a condominium in the 7100 block of South Durango Road that would accept the terms of her voucher.
The government was to pay $645 for her 800-square-foot, two-bedroom unit, which ordinarily rents for $825. Dunn was to pay no rent, but would be responsible for paying the utilities.
Dunn's situation was further clouded by missing paperwork. Housing officials had no record of receiving a document from Dunn's landlord acknowledging that $645 was acceptable rent.
"There is plenty of room for error, whether it is the client's fault, the landlord's fault or ours," Williams said. "Someone dropped the ball. It happens."
Another hurdle has been inspecting potential Section 8 housing in a timely manner. The housing authority has been running two to three months behind in such inspections.
Williams had obtained a waiver from federal housing officials to allow Katrina victims to move in before the inspections were conducted -- a move that bought the agency some time in the paperwork-pushing process.
Despite document mix-ups and inspection delays, Williams is proud of what his team has accomplished under trying conditions, noting, "many of my staff members did a hell of a job working long hours to help a lot of families."
Williams said Katrina victims received 186 of the agency's 1,371 Section 8 vouchers and got special treatment to more quickly place them in homes. To make matters more pressing, Williams' agency was the only one of the three local public housing providers that had Section 8 vouchers available.
All of the Las Vegas Housing Authority's 3,800-plus Section 8 vouchers and Clark County's 2,800-plus vouchers were filled at the time. Those agencies helped Katrina victims in public and private homes, and helped North Las Vegas process Katrina Section 8 applicants.
Allen defended the eviction notice by explaining that the purpose was "to light a fire" under the housing authority and Dunn, in the event that she had forgotten to file paperwork with public housing officials.
"We were told (by housing officials) to get the Katrina evacuees into the homes and that the housing authority would get an inspector there within 90 days," said Allen, who has placed six Katrina victims among the 60 Section 8 contracts his company manages. "We even waived some of our normal fees to get Katrina victims moved in."
Allen said he also placed three of Dunn's relatives in units he manages. He says he has received federal rent subsidies for Dunn's family members. Nonetheless, Dunn was the one who faced the Christmas eviction notice.
"To an extent, it worked" he said, "because Tiffany went to the housing authority right away and that has expedited the process." He said Wednesday that the housing authority told him a check for Dunn's rent and back rent is on the way.
But Allen acknowledges that the notice could have seemed a bit heartless given the time of year. He said he has given Dunn breaks on her one-year lease to make up for any emotional distress, realizing that "Tiffany was simply caught in limbo within the system."
Ed Koch can be reached at 259-4090 or at [email protected].
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