Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority representatives said in May they planned to drop the contractor they hired to manage their rental subsidy program – but now, they’re walking back those statements. Now, CMHA reps say they haven’t made a decision.
CMHA privatized the management of the housing voucher program in 2022 by contracting with CGI -- a Canadian IT company. The housing choice voucher program, that some may know as Section 8, offers subsidized rent to the people who meet federal income requirements. The median income of the people the program serves in Columbus is about $15,000 a year.
CMHA said it would save more than a $1 million a year, and the money that was saved would leverage more affordable housing for the area.
CMHA laid off nearly 50 employees to make the change.
RELATED: After latest raise, CMHA's CEO is highest paid head of a housing authority in the country at $550K
CMHA admits it hasn't saved any money with the contract, but hasn't answered WOSU's questions about whether or not the contract has cost the organization more money than handling operations themselves.
The Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found numerous problems with how CGI has been operating, and all of the clients WOSU spoke to had negative things to say about customer service since privatization.
Line up
People who need to turn in paperwork or sort out a problem with their vouchers have had to wait outside of CGI's High Street headquarters on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The office will take 30 people at 8 a.m. and 30 people at 1 p.m., so people start lining up early in hopes of being one of the lucky few who might get the chance to sort out a problem with their voucher and secure their housing.
One woman brought a chair to sit on when she lined up at 6 a.m. one day in the last few weeks. She – and others – spoke with WOSU on the condition of anonymity in order to protect their access to housing.
"I had a lot of trouble getting through on the phone. They don't ever answer. And they sometimes tell you to leave a voicemail. And I never got return calls back. The process has taken forever," she said.
The woman has been living in a hotel for nearly a year because of delays. It was her fifth visit to the office. She says she’s learned you have to get there early in order to get help.
"There's a lot of people that be waiting in the line and they don't even get to go in. They get turned away,” she said.
She said once you do get to see someone, there's usually some other problem. "Them losing our paperwork and losing the emails...," the woman said.
One man said the mistakes the office made and the resulting delays caused him to lose the place he was going to rent.
"It's been a mess. So now I got to go back out and find a whole new place again. That's what I'm saying, see, that's time wasting,” he said. "They told us one thing and then they turn around and that's not what they're doing."
The CMHA clients WOSU spoke to outside of CGI headquarters as they waited for a chance to correct mistakes the agency made with their vouchers, all said service conditions have gotten worse under CGI.
"They said I was supposed to get a voucher within two weeks and here I am, still waiting. Haven't got no kind of email, no nothing. Just know there's no kind of transparency, no communication. Like literally we drop the paperwork off and everything and my paperwork sat in a box for 14 days,” one woman said.
Now she takes a picture of the documents she drops off in the drop box for proof.
“I'm living literally like a gypsy. Like, this is the one time I really do need assistance, and I'm really, I'm doing everything that I need to do. And they're not doing their job. I'm just waiting on somebody to sign a piece of paper," another woman said.
She said the system they’re using isn’t only inefficient, but demoralizing, by having clients wait outside. “I think that's the most embarrassing thing they could do to people. Like they only take 30 of us and then we go in. You got to wait, wait, wait.”
The clients all had stories of mistakes the contractor made, like issuing them vouchers in other people's names; inspections taking too long to complete so that a landlord can’t hold a place; and being denied a service erroneously and having to go through a lengthy appeals process to fix it. They even have to stand in line to turn in paperwork.
One woman waited in line on her birthday in order to re-certify her housing says CGI lost the packet she had already filled out.
"But now I got to redo it again, stand in line on my birthday tomorrow, and wait for them to open the door about a recertification packet that I already then filled out online... And this is to keep my house for me and my son. And that definitely should be easy. But they're making it hard for us."
Clients are even made to stand in line just to drop off paperwork. There’s no public bathroom, so clients either stay in line or bring a second family member to hold their place in line. She says once you do get inside, the employees are often rude. And sometimes arguments break out in line if someone thinks you’re trying to cut.
There's no free parking in the area, and a police officer is even posted outside on line up days to keep people from parking in front of the building.
One woman, a mom of four, had to wait in line to fix a problem with her voucher while her youngest child was being treated in a hospital ICU.
“This is my third time here this week. But what mom wants to leave her baby, her three-year-old at the hospital?” she said. “Well, we're out here really, like, basically knees bleeding, begging y'all, you're messing with us. We have families out here.”
A lack of quality control
The inspector general of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has reportedly found problems with CMHA's operations.
A federal inspection of Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority's apartments found numerous problems with the conditions of the housing approved by CGI, and that the agency didn't do a good job overseeing CGI -- which caused tenants to end up in units with poor conditions like water damage, rotted windows and bad wiring. They also didn't meet requirements for monitoring lead levels in children.
CGI or not?
In May, CMHA's spokesman told the Dispatch that it wouldn't continue with CGI after the contract expired. But, CMHA didn't expand much on the comments.
So, WOSU sat down with CMHA president and CEO Charles Hillman in September to discuss the housing authority's next step.
Hillman initially said, “We are committed to evaluating all of our options to provide service to our residents.”
And Hillman denied a decision had been made public. “We've not made any public comments regarding decisions. We are continuing to evaluate the best ways to deliver service to our residents,” he said.
Hillman said he didn’t “know anything about that.”
WOSU shared the article with Hillman.
“I didn't realize we had said that we had made a decision to do something,” he said. “I was just trying to see, well, let me just tell you, we have not made a decision as to what our next steps will be,” he said.
WOSU asked Hillman about some of the complaints people have had under privatization, like not being able to reach someone to fix a problem, and payments reaching landlords late.
“No, I'm not in the position to discuss that. I just don't know the problem,” Hillman said. “I don't know specifics.”
After several more questions, Hillman acknowledged, “We have some specific complaints that we're addressing. Yes.”
After voting to privatize the voucher program, the CMHA board raised Hillman's pay from $400,000 a year to $550,000, not including other perks like bonuses and travel expenses.
When asked if the board granted the raise at a time when Hillman's responsibilities might've decreased because of privatization, president James Ervin said that's not the case, that Hillman's value came from his leadership in other areas, like developing housing and investments.
Since the report from the inspector general came out, CMHA has made a few changes.
CMHA says CGI is doing better now with increased instruction, training and oversight.
Now, CMHA's other spokesperson says if CMHA sticks with CGI, there will be changes.
“CMHA has determined that it will not renew CGI’s contract in its current form. CMHA remains committed to continually assessing and optimizing our service delivery to better serve our residents. Our focus remains on enhancing service efficiency and effectiveness,” a statement reads.
They said they’re focused on improving efficiency.
And, to alleviate some of the largest complaints, that clients can't sort out their problems efficiently, CMHA is going to open its RISE center to some clients for some activities.
Starting this week, CMHA says it will process requests for tenancy approvals at its RISE facility. And now, people can also drop off documents there.
Now, they won't be forced to get service by lining up outside of the building, only to be turned away once CGI reaches capacity, or wait for a callback after leaving a message on the phone system that doesn't have an option to speak to someone.
That issue was described as "dehumanizing" by one of the clients.
