Millions To House Sex Offenders

     The criminals benefitting from the perk of affordable housing have been convicted of serious felonies, including rape, sexual assault and lewd or lascivious acts and many of the victims were children. The enraging details of how valuable tax dollars are illegally spent to help criminals was made public in a lengthy HUD Inspector General report published in August 2009.
     Scandal at HUD, a cabinet-level agency that strives to increase access to affordable housing, is hardly a novelty. George W. Bush’s corrupt HUD Secretary(Alphonso Jackson) was ousted for awarding millions in agency contracts to friends who gave him kickbacks on the deals and Bill Clinton’s HUD Secretary (Henry Cisneros) pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about payments to his former mistress. Ronald Reagan’s HUD Secretary (Samuel Pierce) was also embroiled in an influence-peddling scandal that led to the conviction of some of his top aides.  (Read more *)
*http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2009/08/millions-house-sex-offenders/

Coming To A Neighborhood Near You

       The Spring Gate apartment complex, also known as Rockland Place, has been in existence along Martha Drive and Hannah Way in Rockland, Massachusetts for about 42-years now. Hedge-fund investors and partners receive Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and billions of dollars in government funds in exchange for lowered rents, more paperwork, and regulations that aren't often enforced according to the HUD Handbook and federal/state laws. 
       This subsidized housing development has been financed and renovated with billions of dollars from HUD, MassHousing loans (with reduced interest rates), grants, taxpayer funds, etc.   The complex holds a total of 204 rental apartments.  193 of these apartments are reserved for low-income tenants who pay 30-40% of their income toward rent payments.  HUD pays the remainder of the rent to the corporate partners who own numerous subsidized properties across the country.         According to police and tenants, this mixed-income, subsidized development has been a hot spot for crime in Rockland, including rapes, drugs, robberies, break-ins, mail theft, fires, beatings, threats, shootings, vandalism, and knife attacks for more than a decade. Except for the first 10 years, Rockland Place has always been a nuisance property, often unsafe and indecent, with violations in codes, human rights, and fair housing laws. 

          Some people have suspected blue collar and white collar organized crime on this property.  Unusual and extra heavy traffic patterns began flowing in and out of this dead-end complex sometime in the 1980's.  In the nineties, peculiar business listings were published in phone directories and online. One listed phone number called an answering machine at So. Shore Voc-Tech. There was never a Mariott Hotel or a Friendly's Ice Cream Shop or even a Rockland Self-storage facility at any residential building on Martha Drive, where cocaine and other drugs were often sold.  So why all the repetitive business listings in this subsidized housing complex, even after listings were reported to corporate mgmt., MassHousing Finance, and government officials?  Perhaps laundering drug money?
               In 2008, Rockland Police Lt., Barry Ashton, explained the ongoing criminal activity to a local daily newspaper, “It’s an apartment complex, and any time you have an apartment complex with a lot of people squeezed into a tight geographic area, you’re going to have problems.”   Ashton has since retired from the Rockland Police Dept. after another police officer was promoted to Police Chief. 
             When Rockland Place first started housing people in 1972, this 'non-profit' property was owned and managed by Edwin D. Abrams.  Sometime in the 1980's, Rockland Place started adding partners like Bruce Rozet of AFC Corporation and Julie Wall of United Housing Preservation.   In 1996, Cornerstone Corporation replaced Abrams Management.  Rockland Place continued in its downward spiral.     
            From  2005,  Neil H. Ellis of First Hartford Corporation and William M. Connolly of the newly established Connolly and Partners LLC were first introduced to residents and added to the mix of additional partners and investors. Residents weren't informed of Boston Capital's involvement until after it was published on this site.  The newer corporate partners promised to clean up the crime and to improve the property's bad reputation by changing the name to Spring Gate. 
           Deceptive business practices, wastefulness, crime, and substandard living conditions continued.  At least one resident with documented medical disabilities was not accommodated and escaped into homelessness with absolutely no compensation from the government financed corporate landlords.  Other tenants stayed and also suffered losses with personal property damaged during shoddy repairs and renovations.
         Currently, this subsidized multifamily housing complex has about 20 vacant apartments. While rents continue to increase, residents live with pipe leaks and repetitive sewerage backup, asbestos in wall panels, crime and other unsafe conditions, increased apartment inspections by a variety of government agencies and corporations, non-compliance of lease agreements, etc.
         Let's face it, government programs look better on paper than they actually are.  If these poorly managed programs really helped the vulnerable, more Americans would be better able to lift themselves out of poverty and dependency.
        The never-ending cycle of government expansion and dependency continues under President Obama.  He insists on using more tax dollars to build even more subsidized housing in good neighborhoods.   So please remind me ... How does infecting more American neighborhoods with crime and socialism improve American lives?  

*Here's what Dr. Ben Carson thinks on the subject. (external article)

**Who Are the Biggest Corporate Welfare Moochers? (external article)

NOTE 1: Long url for this blog: http://www.typog.blogspot.com

NOTE 2: Shortened url:   http://goo.gl/htEcFF



    

Quality of Standards - Government Vouchers

SEARCH INDEPENDENT NEWS + MEDIA HERE!

May 1, 2015 blog:  A meeting was recently held at the Rockland Place dba Spring Gate Apartments Community Room for tenants to bid farewell to one on-site property manager, Janet Hamilton, and to welcome another, Donna Burks-Smith.

There's been talk of an asbestos problem in the drywall throughout this housing complex in Rockland, MA, along with some flooding, pipe leaks, illegal activities, and another death.

It's also been reported to this site that FHRC Management at Clarendon Hill Towers in Somerville, MA may be bugging an apartment on the 12th floor.  Of course, we're unable to confirm this particular story, but it certainly wouldn't be the first time a corporate property manager illegally bugged a low-income resident's apartment.

(Have you been illegally harassed by Management, live-ins, or other residents?   If so, write in and tell us your story.)

Here's a link low-income residents may be interested in viewing:  http://democrats.financialservices.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=399001
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April 1, 2015 blog note:  Does your place of residence meet the housing quality standards of the Section 8 rental assistance program?  Find out here:  http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=52580.pdf
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March 2015 blog note: Is it really true that the housing authority is allowing the increase of rents for Section 8 apartments to be a higher amount, as if  Spring Gate / Rockland Place units were located in Boston, MA?  The cost of apartments used to be at lower rates in Rockland than they were in Boston.  Convenience and access to public transportation in Rockland is poor when compared to that in Boston.
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February 5, 2015 blog:
HOMELESSNESS: President's 2016 BUDGET
This plan may help the homelessness problem in America, but does not resolve the crime, corruption and victimization which exists in subsidized housing complexes.
http://usich.gov/resources/uploads/asset_library/2016_Budget_Fact_Sheet_on_Homelessness_Assistance.pdf       
 No security cameras and no police substation ever existed.  Tenants were further traumatized and/or victimized after assaults in darkened common areas.

Would Government Controlled Internet Be Like Affordable Housing?

     Please take the time to view the video link below of what it might be like should the government and/or favored corporations take control of the internet.  It has similarities to life at Rockland Place dba Spring Gate Apartments in Rockland, MA where corporations and government overstep their bounds to deny American citizens privacy and the right to protect ourselves from those who do us harm.
      Financially needy people do become repeatedly victimized in 'affordable' or subsidized housing complexes, operated by bad landlords who only pretend to care about crime on their nuisance properties.  Some of these corporate landlords have even worked in government offices and promoted programs that would enrich themselves.
        Many government programs are abused and do NOT work.  Instead of uplifting families out of poverty, these mismanaged programs tend to keep people buried in poverty, low self-esteem, and powerlessness. Some programs deny individuals the right to protect themselves from ruthless individuals and corporations who have full access to tenants' homes and everything inside.
      Some people say, "You're denying yourself because you'd get yourself out of poverty if it bothers you so much."  The tools to do this aren't always available for a number of reasons, too numerous to mention in this article. Yes, some people are able to lift themselves from poverty, but the percentage is extremely small. Even some people who work full-time can not afford to rent an apartment.
         Let's take a look at some of the Americans living in poverty.  Minimum wage earners are one group.  Elderly people, who worked most of their lives paid into social security, and may be surviving on an annual income of $13,000 in social security with Medicare paying 80% toward medical bills. For the most part, COLA, or cost of living increases are not realistic with climbing expenses for basic necessities. People in this category may also receive food stamps which would probably pay 1/4 of their grocery bill, if that. Yes, it's better than nothing, but it's often a trade off of certain privacy rights and freedoms.
     There are Veterans, survivors of crime, and citizens with debilitating medical issues (not readily seen) who may be unable to work with any stability due to medical difficulties that interfere with several aspects of life.  Some of these people suffer PTSD or mental health problems like schizophrenia and major depression, etc. These people constantly hear the criticisms of ignorant Americans who disrespect them.  They're treated with contempt and disgust because "they don't get off their lazy butts and hold a job".
      While some American citizens do need assistance, I don't believe the solution is in throwing more tax dollars to unsafe, substandard, subsidized housing where tenants are repeatedly victimized by some property managers and favored corporations.  I think it's time we stop throwing money toward poorly run government programs and think outside the box to come up with better solutions.
http://www.departmentoftheinternet.net/request-installation/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Obama+launches+the+Department+of+the+Internet&utm_campaign=02-05-O-DepofInternet