HUD rep comes to Paris meeting

PARIS — A federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) director met with Paris officials on Tuesday to discuss solutions to the problem of unsafe housing conditions in the town of Paris.

William Burney, the field office director for HUD, discussed whether HUD would take direct action in the wake of revelations about unsafe conditions for low-income tenants in the area.

"A lot will depend on the audit that I assume the inspector general will do," said Burney, referring to a federal audit of the local administration of the Section 8 program, which has been requested by U.S. Senator Collins.

A representative of Senator Collins' office was also in attendance, as were a handful of interested citizens of Paris.

Paris Fire Chief Brad Frost, who wrote to Collins expressing concern, said that HUD should hold landlords accountable for Section 8 violations.

"If my tax money is going to landlords getting rich not fixing what they should, who's going to make sure they do it?" asked Frost.

Burney pointed to a wide range of reforms that are being implemented as a result of an investigation led by the Maine State Housing Authority, which administers the Section 8 program on behalf of HUD.

One of the recommended reforms is for MSHA to be more proactive in notifying towns, tenants, and landlords about how to resolve problems.

"There are two types of landlords," said Frost. "There are the ones that want to provide safe, decent housing, and the ones that just want to make money."

Frost and citizens in attendance also expressed concerns about rental units that do not contain Section 8 tenants, and are therefore not inspected at all for safety violations.

"What about apartments that are not Section 8?" asked the Rev. Anne Stanley.

Frost said that tenants can call him to request an inspection for compliance with the Life Safety Code 101 of the National Fire Protection Association, which has been adopted by the state.

"If I find a problem, I usually send a letter to the landlord," said Frost. "If it's not fixed, or if he laughs at me or something like that, I send it to the office of the Maine State Fire Marshal."

But most agreed that the vast majority of safety violations go unreported by tenants.

"A lot of tenants are afraid to 'rat' on their landlords," said Stanley.

"They don't cry out for the rights they have, because they feel they have limited options," said Burney.

Burney said that gaining entrance to rental units on a regular basis is a problem faced by many communities.

"How does a code enforcement officer get in the door?" he asked. "What triggers that? Being able to get in without an invitation seems to be the dilemma."

"If we had a local ordinance, we wouldn't be inspecting because it's a Section 8 property," said Paris resident Jack Richardson. "We would be inspecting because it's a rental property."

Kathy Richardson and Stanley both suggested that there was a moral imperative for the community to fix the unsafe living conditions that have been documented.

"Shame on us if we don't try to address this," said Stanley.

Selectman Bob Kirchherr and Paris Code Enforcement Officer Gerald Samson said that they expected resistance to the idea of regulating rental units.

"This is not going to be a walk-through," said Kirchherr. "I understand that the people here are very passionate about this, but there's passion on the other side, too."

Kirchherr said that more talk was needed before drafting an ordinance.

"I need some time to digest this," he said. "I understand the concern, but I don't know how to address it."

Kirchherr said that he favored the idea of inviting landlords and tenants to a meeting to discuss ways in which Paris could ensure safer living conditions.

"They need to be brought into the process at some point, and I think sooner is better than later," he said.

He indicated that he would ask Town Manager Phil Tarr to take action.

If an ordinance was drafted, attendees said that it would make sense to coordinate the effort with Norway's existing building code, so that there would be consistency across town borders. They also discussed using HUD regulations as a guideline.

Burney said that it might be possible to access federal funding to provide landlords with low-interest loans. The money could be used to bring rental units into compliance, he said.