nothin One Family Moves In, Another Forced Out | New Haven Independent

One Family Moves In, Another Forced Out

Melissa Bailey Photo

LCI’s Ramos: Landlord never fixed violations.

As a family prepares to move into a new house built by Yale architecture students in the Dwight neighborhood, tenants right next door are being forced out because of a negligent landlord.

The new house, at 456 Orchard St., went on deposit the very day it was inaugurated in a special ceremony by the Yale School of Architecture, whose students competed to design it. That night, a passing vehicle sprayed bullets into the Section 8 housing unit next door, at 452 Orchard, which police said has been the site of multiple incidents in the past few months.

During the ceremony, Mayor John DeStefano said he would look into possible housing code violations 452 Orchard St.

Turns out inspectors were already on the case.

The mayor was talking about looking into whether there were any housing code violations, but we already have a list of violations, and so there was no need to do a housing code,” said Rafael Ramos, head of enforcement at the Livable City Initiative, which inspects Section 8 Housing units.

LCI inspects Section 8 units every year to make sure they comply with public housing standards. When 452 Orchard St. failed on June 9, officials gave the landlord four weeks to fix the problem, returning on July 11 to find that nothing had changed.

Inspection reports indicate that the landlord, Janet Dawson, is responsible for fixing the problems, which include rodents, rotting floors, and dangerous electrical fixtures.

But as far as the family living there is concerned, there is no landlord.

Neena Satija File Photo

452 Orchard St.

The landlord doesn’t do anything,” said the head of the household at 452 Orchard St., who would only identify herself as Jennifer. What’s the point of calling her?”

Dawson could not be reached for comment.

On July 27, the unit was put into abatement. That means the city’s housing authority, which administers Section 8 housing subsidies, stopped paying the landlord its share of the rent and gave the tenants a new voucher to find another place within 60 days.

It’s very, very frustrating,” said Jennifer, who said she was supposed to move out last week but is still looking for a new place. I like my neighbors. I like this street. It actually isn’t a bad street.”

She wouldn’t say how many people live with her, other than a lot.” Inspection reports show it’s a 4‑bedroom house with 2 children under the age of six.

Jim Paley, director of the not-for-profit agency Neighborhood Housing Services, said such problems are typical for properties owned by Dawson.

During the foreclosure crisis, landlords like Dawson and her former company Apple Management bought up hundreds of multifamily houses at which property values had plummeted. (Land records show Dawson snapped up the building for $8,000 in 2004; in 2010 it was assessed at about $100,000, plus about $32,000 for the land it sits on.)

Then housing prices continued falling, which the buyers didn’t expect. They ended up overpaying for the houses even though they thought they were getting bargains,” Paley said.

So instead of reinvesting in the properties, they abandoned them. That appears to be what happened to 452 Orchard, which is 111 years old.

Click here to read a story in the New Haven Advocate about Apple Management and other city landlords that faced lawsuits after a foreclosure-buying spree. 

Evelise Ribeiro of the housing authority said it is common for Section 8 housing units to fall by the wayside, often because of negligent landlords.

This is pretty typical,” she said as she thumbed through the housing reports for 452 Orchard St. It’s just a lot more violations in one inspection than normal.”

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