WASHINGTON — Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz is certain he has the ear of federal officials when it comes to public health and safety issues with low-income housing in the city owned by out-of-town companies.
Some Toledo rental properties subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, like Ashland Manor and Covenant House, have been lost in the shuffle of the millions of properties in the country that the department oversees, allowing conditions to go unchecked for too long, the mayor said in a video call with WTOL 11 on Thursday.
Both the Ashland Manor and Covenant House apartment complexes have been criticized by the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, city administrators, city council and area elected officials for deplorable living conditions, such as excessive garbage, pests and vermin and a lack of sanitation.
The video call followed an in-person meeting in Washington the mayor had with HUD officials on the same day to discuss the department's role in ensuring housing it funds is up to standard. Kapszukiewicz also said he met with HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge, the highest-ranking official in the department, on Wednesday.
"There is no question that if part of a goal was to make sure what's happening in Toledo is on the radar screen of the top federal officials at HUD, if nothing else, I can assure you that mission has been accomplished," Kapszukiewicz said. "I'm more interested though in trying to figure out how this happened and what we can do to fix it and make sure it doesn't happen again."
The mayor said that while HUD officials agree on the shockingly poor living conditions of Covenant House and Ashland Manor, both of which he brought binders full of information on to brief the department, there still remains a question unanswered: How did it get to this point?
HUD didn't have that answer, which Kapszukiewicz admitted was a frustration he left the meeting with. He said, however, inspection scores may play a role. If a property receives a good inspection score, the next inspection may not happen for a few years. If the property scores poorly, HUD may visit again in the same year.
He also said that owners hiding behind "dummy corporations and phantom LLCs" present a difficult obstacle to officials seeking to contact the people in charge of a property.
"We have some properties where the most vulnerable people in our community live ... those properties are owned by a 'phantom LLC' where communications go to a PO box and that goes to another PO box," the mayor said. "It would be difficult for anyone to convince me that that system is not deliberately concocted ... for bad actors to hide from accountability."
HUD monitors millions of properties in the country, thousands of which are likely to have similar issues to Ashland Manor. Kapszukiewicz said while he understands that, "it sure as heck feels like something fell through the cracks."
He said HUD proposed a task force to monitor the situation in the future that includes representatives from the mayor's office, the Toledo Housing Court, and the offices of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur.
An official from HUD's Cleveland office visited Ashland Manor, which is owned by New Jersey-based NB Affordable Housing, on Thursday, Kapszukiewicz said. He also said HUD has committed to an official site visit within the next two weeks.
Covenant House is owned by Cleveland-based Millennia Companies.
Also on Thursday, a water leak was reported in the main lobby of Ashland Manor. A city-hired plumber fixed the boiler causing the leak, restoring heat to the building. The owners will pay the $2,400 bill, according to Toledo City Council member Vanice Williams, who represents the district Ashland Manor and Covenant House are in.
TLCHD ordered the owners of Ashland Manor last week to clean up multiple public health nuisances in three days or face potential legal action. The city hired its own contractors and got the job done by last Friday.
Covenant House owners have also seen force from federal and local officials to clean up their north Toledo property. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown has also called for action at the apartment complex.
The recent steps taken to prevent future problem properties are promising but make clear the work that is still needed, the mayor believes. While the city has a role in fixing the problem, federally subsidized housing is something that the federal government is responsible for, he said.
"If there was ever a time to be a good partner, that time is now," Kapszukiewicz said of HUD.