Five families in Wilmington public housing make over $90,000

Christina Jedra | The News Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Families in Wilmington public housing make over $90,000 There are over 1,200 people waiting to be placed in public housing in Wilmington, but the city's housing authority is subsidizing rent for families making over $90,000. 6/27/18

There are over 1,200 people waiting to be placed in public housing in Wilmington, but the city's housing authority is subsidizing rent for families making over $90,000.

Five households supported through the Wilmington Housing Authority make between $91,694 and $95,533, according to WHA records first obtained by CBS Philadelphia. Four families range in size from two to seven people, WHA said.

One resident lives alone, WHA told The News Journal, and made $17,300 a year in 2012 when they moved in. Today, taxpayers are subsidizing their rent despite an annual income over $90,000.

There are income restrictions for obtaining housing in the Wilmington region — it's $48,950 for an individual and $69,900 for a family of four — but once they're in, there are no more income restrictions. All five households exceed eligibility limits.

"We can’t put them out just based on income," said WHA's Acting Director Karen Spellman. "Regulations allow them to stay."

Public housing residents pay 30 percent of their monthly adjusted income, whether their earnings are zero or six figures, because of U.S. Housing and Urban Development regulations, Spellman said. There is also the option of flat rent that Spellman said can further lower rent costs for tenants. It was developed as a way to incentivize earning higher incomes.

If it were up to her, Spellman said there would be an income cap.

"There’s a lot of people who have lower incomes that are sitting and waiting and maybe even in shelters that could benefit from that housing when it's being occupied by higher income participants," she said.

For one and two bedrooms, WHA applicants wait an average of two to three years, and for three or more bedrooms, they can wait six months to a year, Spellman said.

Jennie Foley, a New Castle resident, said she applied for housing assistance from WHA in the 1980s, landed on a waiting list and never heard from them. She has struggled to make ends meet for decades, she said, and it upset her to learn some public housing tenants earn more than her.

"They have people in there making $90,000, and I had to live in poverty with my children and stretch and beg and work my butt off?" said Foley, who cares for four grandchildren. "That’s not fair."

Wilmington Housing Authority tries to encourage residents at the higher end of the income spectrum to pursue other options, Spellman said.

"We survey our income periodically to see who has an income (with which) they could reasonably provide for themselves without subsidy, and I send my residential services staff out to talk about homeownership," she said. "We case manage them."

But it doesn't always work, she said.

"We have generations upon generations that live in public housing," she said, explaining that children can eventually take over as the heads of their households when their parents pass away without reapplying with income restrictions.

"Their mother lives up the street and their aunt lives around the corner and they’re in their community and they want to stay there."

CBS Philadelphia reviewed incomes at several Delaware Valley area housing authorities.

The Delaware County Housing Authority has a family earning $69,893, CBS found. In New Jersey, the Camden Housing Authority subsidizes a household with an income of $104,209.

"It's kind of a well-kept secret across the nation that you could be in this situation," said WHA Board Commissioner Vincent White. "We do have a waiting list of people who this housing might be suitable for ... It puts a challenge on the ability of a housing authority to provide affordable housing."

WHA Board Chairman Steven Martin did not respond to a request for comment.

In 2015, the U.S. Inspector General's office, a watchdog for HUD, released a report that found the incomes of up to 25,226 families exceeded HUD’s 2014 program eligibility income limits. Over 17,000 had earned more than the qualifying amount for more than a year, according to the audit.

Officials estimated HUD would pay $104.4 million in the following year for public housing units occupied by over-income families that otherwise could have been used to house low-income families, the report said. They recommended HUD change its policies to reduce this.

HUD responded that the report was flawed and that "forcing families to leave public housing could impact their ability to maintain employment if they are not able to find suitable housing in the neighborhood," wrote Milan Ozdinec, HUD’s deputy assistant secretary for public housing and voucher programs.

“There are positive social benefits from having families with varying income levels residing in the same property,” Ozdinec said.

The agency said at the time it would consider changes to ensure public housing residents actually need the help, CBS reported. But a spokesperson for HUD told CBS no changes have been implemented yet.

Contact Christina Jedra at cjedra@delawareonline.com, (302) 324-2837 or on Twitter @ChristinaJedra.

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