CINCINNATI — One mother from Roselawn is in danger of losing her home after receiving an eviction notice stating she owes thousands of dollars. She called WCPO 9 News for help. We contacted lawyers from the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati, who said the whole thing was a mistake and she is not behind on her rent.
Stephanie Blanchard is a single mother of four who lives at Heirlooms of Cincinnati. She is a Section 8 housing recipient, and over the last year, she has received several notices to vacate her apartment, some of which stated she owed thousands of dollars. Every time that has happened, she has been able to keep her apartment after contacting lawyers from Legal Aid. On Feb. 7, she received a notice from the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), which oversees Section 8, stating she was no longer eligible for a housing voucher.
We asked Blanchard what her biggest fear is right now.
"Being homeless again," said Blanchard.
She showed us several documents over the last two years in which she has been threatened with eviction and on the verge of losing her housing voucher.
"This is showing that my rent is zero," said Blanchard. "This is termination of housing choice voucher."
We asked her about the times she has contacted CMHA for help and the common answer she receives for why she is getting notices.
"Basically telling me it's the management company not turning in one single sheet of paper," said Blanchard.
Learn more about Blanchard's story in the video below:
Emily Roberts is a senior supervising attorney with Legal Aid and is handling Blanchard's eviction case. She tells WCPO 9 News that for months, several of her clients have struggled with this same issue. She said Blanchard has submitted all the necessary paperwork on time. However, she said the eviction notices Blanchard is receiving are automatically generated as standard operating procedure when someone loses their housing voucher.
"As much as we would want to blame it on the landlord, who has been notorious for kind of dropping the ball in the past, in this instance, it really was the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority," said Roberts. "It turns out, all CMHA needed to do was contact the landlord and say we need the specific structure of the water bill."
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"What do you chalk this up to, is it lack of employees, incompetence, something else?" we asked.
"I think lack of staff is a big thing," said Roberts. "I will email CMHA's legal department, and I will have to send five, six, seven follow-up emails to get a response."
Roberts also said last Friday, she and an attorney with the city of Cincinnati had a conference call with representatives from CMHA and the landlord of Heirlooms of Cincinnati. She said that the conversation focused on a lack of communication and response on the part of CMHA.
"This seems like it's super simple, but it's not getting resolved," said Roberts. "But it took a city attorney and myself basically intervening and saying this isn't OK what's happening, we need to get this fixed."
We contacted CMHA for comment, and a representative told WCPO 9 News they are looking into Blanchard's case. They wouldn't say if the office is dealing with an employee shortage, nor would they address allegations about a lack of response from their office.
They released the following statement to us after this story was published:
"The residents and voucher participants are our first priority at CMHA, and we work hard to provide a high level of customer service to them. As we understand in this case, there was a misunderstanding between the landlord’s completed form and CMHA’s expectations regarding responsibility for the utilities for the tenant to renew the Rental Tenant Agreement. This communication was resolved last week, and CMHA is moving forward with renewing the tenant’s voucher. She is able to continue in her current unit under CMHA protocols."
"CMHA doesn't recognize that if the tenants who are already struggling are doing what's required of them, the least CMHA can do is respond to an email and say yes we got all of the documents that you submitted on time," said Roberts.
Meanwhile, Blanchard says she wants to feel comfortable in her home and not have to worry about the possibility of eviction.
"I just want to write my poetry in peace, write my books, movie scripts, you know I'm a writer so I tend to make a point," said Blanchard.
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