Overgrown grass at Elm Terrace Apartments caught the attention of some do-gooders in the Duncan community last year when a group of citizens got together to clean up the landscaping and grounds at the low-income apartment complex. About 80 people came to help with the clean-up project that Saturday. That was a beautiful day, said Essie Johnson. The 79-year-old great-grandmother has lived at Elm Terrace Apartments for 15 years and had never seen the community come out to help before. “It was good to know that people gave a darn about us,” she said. She doubts the company that manages Elm Terrace gives a darn. The project-based low-income apartment complex has been falling apart for years. It’s always something, Johnson said. Most recently, her air conditioner stopped working. She was given a window unit by the on-site manager, but not until after a month of complaining, she said. The federal Project-Based Rental Assistance program, or PBRA, provides 1.2 million low-income American families with affordable housing through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. More than 5,500 PBRA properties have financing insured by the Federal Housing Administration. Many others are financed through bonds issued by state and local housing authorities and finance agencies such as the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency. Elm Terrace is a project-based complex that dozens of Oklahoma families with very low incomes call home. Tenants there receive assistance from the federal government to pay their rent. The apartment’s management company receives assistance for maintenance and upkeep. But the complex frequently fails inspections required to keep taxpayer money flowing via subsidies from HUD.Elm Terrace’s most recent inspection, published online in August, resulted in a score of 22%,  the second-lowest of 278 project-based complexes listed by HUD in Oklahoma. That’s down from a 31% inspection score Elm Terrace received in December.Oklahoma’s lowest inspection score for multifamily project-based housing on the August report was 7%, earned by James M. Inhofe Plaza in Tulsa. Those two lowest-scoring project-based apartment complexes are both operated and managed by Millennia Housing Management, a Cleveland, Ohio-based mega-landlord that was recently debarred by HUD after several deadly apartment disasters during the past few years. Ten other Oklahoma project-based apartment complexes received failing scores, according to HUD’s Aug. 30 report. Project-based apartment complexes are owned either by private entities with subsidy contracts or by local or state housing authorities. All project-based complexes receive funding directly from HUD and are required to adhere to HUD regulations. People who rent in project-based apartments have housing vouchers, commonly known as Section 8. People with housing vouchers can instead opt to rent from private landlords and private apartment complexes that accept the vouchers, but demand for Section 8 housing is higher than supply as evidenced in a study showing half of people holding Section 8 vouchers are able to find housing that accepts them before they expire in 60 days. Management Company Under Fire Inspection reports for Elm Terrace and James M. Inhofe Plaza noted refrigerators and stoves missing, electrical problems, ceiling leaks, mold, roaches and bed bugs, improperly installed carbon monoxide detectors and more. Residents at James M. Inhofe Plaza, which houses elderly and disabled housing voucher recipients, complained to local news media when they spent the Fourth of July without air conditioning. Management had failed to repair it for more than a month. “These are minimum standards,” said Eric Hallett, the coordinator of housing advocacy for Legal Aid Services Oklahoma. “But they’re what you would want a person to have: walls without holes and working windows and a ceiling that keeps out the rain, and working switches.”The ceiling in Georgia Guerrero’s bathroom caved in and was patched by apartment maintenance staff at Elm Terrace Apartments in Duncan. (Heather Warlick/Oklahoma Watch)Millennia manages more than 270 complexes in 26 states, with some market-rate rentals but mostly low-income multifamily complexes like Elm Terrace Apartments and disabled and senior-living units like James M. Inhofe Plaza.MIllennia owns some of the properties it manages, but Pate said the owners of Elm Terrace Apartments are a mystery. Neither she nor Elm Terrace’s maintenance worker knows the owner’s name. Public records show the owner, 206 E Elm, LLC, was registered with the Oklahoma Secretary of State in 2004.Since the community clean-up day, the tall grass and weeds have grown back around Elm Terrace. The largely deserted complex shows other apparent signs of disrepair, with blinds hanging broken in some windows and other windows boarded up. Residents complain that air conditioners are broken, apartments have mold and are crawling with pests. Disastrous maintenance problems at other Millennia complexes cast the company into a slew of negative media attention in recent years after gas explosions and fires in Millennia-managed complexes resulted in at least eight people dead and seven people hospitalized. HUD sent an official debarment order to Millennia Housing Management Ltd. in December in response to those disasters and findings that Millennia mismanaged tenant and taxpayer money. “This order immediately prohibits Millennia from participating in any new business with HUD, our Office of Multifamily Housing Programs – including the Section 8 program – and with any federal government agency or federal program for five years, ending on December 13, 2028,” HUD wrote.The HUD debarment does not affect Millennia’s existing properties or contracts with HUD. According to HUD, debarment follows suspension and is the agency’s most serious compliance sanction. A debarred management company may not enter into any new HUD contracts for a period of time. Usually doled out in three-year penalties, HUD can impose a longer debarment period, as it did in the Millennia case, when it’s deemed necessary to protect the public interest.The HUD spokesperson said the department is aware of the problems in Oklahoma’s Millennia-managed apartments, citing significant deferred maintenance issues and unacceptable property conditions.Too Many Problems to Fix Elm Terrace on-site manager, Sylvia Pate, started her job in February and has been slowly facilitating much-needed repairs throughout Elm Terrace while cleaning up the books, but said it’s no small undertaking. With only one maintenance staff member and many dangerous issues to correct, Pate said it would take time and patience to get the complex back in good running order. Pat said that before she started, there were months when the complex didn’t have anyone to collect rent and keep the books current, much less facilitate repairs. She wasn’t surprised when she heard about the failing results of the complex’s most recent inspection. Johnson has lived at Elm Terrace for 15 years and has seen many managers come and go. “We got a new maintenance guy,” she said. “We got a good new manager. But there are so many problems that need to be fixed.”Elm Terrace Apartments in Duncan recently scored 7% on HUD safety inspections, the lowest for multifamily project-based apartments in the state. The complex is owned by Millennia Housing Management, an out-of-state management company that has been debarred by HUD, and blocked from future subsidized housing contracts with the department. (Heather Warlick/Oklahoma Watch)Johnson said Pate and the maintenance staff try to take care of the complex, but fixes for some of the complex’s most pressing problems, such as the burned-out apartment unit on the other side of Johnson’s kitchen, get pushed off for another time. Millennia Housing Management emailed a statement to Oklahoma Watch regarding the conditions found at Elm Terrace and James M. Inhofe Plaza.“If distressed apartment developments are not preserved, they may be converted to market-rate developments or demolished, thereby diminishing the affordable housing stock,” the company wrote. “The Millennia Companies has worked to preserve these distressed apartment communities with the goal of maintaining the affordability of this housing well into the future by investing in communities and neighborhoods that have not experienced this kind of investment for years.”The company did not address Oklahoma Watch’s question about how it plans to tackle repairs at the complex.Hallett said that since Oklahoma lacks so many affordable housing units, housing authorities are less picky about inspections as long as tenants are willing to accept their units. He cited a recent class-action lawsuit against Vista Shadow Mountain, a 600-unit complex in Tulsa that routinely failed inspections but continued to take in new tenants. Hundreds of residents were forced to leave in 2021 when the Tulsa Fire Department found multiple code violations. Vista Shadow Mountain was recently ordered to pay $400,000 to be split among 229 former tenants displaced due to unsafe living conditions.  The Vista Shadow Mountain units failed inspections repeatedly, but Hallett said it wasn’t until tenants started raising serious concerns for their well-being that action was taken to close the complex. Languishing Without Support “Maintenance can’t get to all the problems because Millennia isn’t paying for it,” Johnson said. Pate confirmed that some repair vendors in Duncan, such as HVAC professionals who are certified to fill freon in air conditioners, are hesitant to work for Elm Terrace because the complex has failed to pay them in the recent past. Pate said she has paid hundreds of dollars out-of-pocket for items such as paint and tools so the maintenance staff can work properly. She is waiting for reimbursement.Of the 88 units at Elm Terrace, 46 are occupied. Pate said she is preparing four more units to be rented. One building that houses 12 units in the complex is condemned. Georgia Guerrero has lived at Elm Terrace for three years and knows most of her neighbors well, including Johnson, whom Guerrero calls Mama and her son calls Grandma. Guerrero’s mother and sister live in a neighboring building, and her boyfriend lives next door. Georgia Guerrero shows the beams that have been installed on her ceiling to keep the upstairs from caving in at Elm Terrace Apartments in Duncan on Sept. 8, 2024. (Heather Warlick/Oklahoma Watch)Guerrero, an elementary school custodian, said she loves her apartment and takes pride in keeping it neat and tidy. But her living room ceiling is lined with large beams installed to keep the upstairs from falling in on her. Guerrero’s kitchen ceiling is patched from where it previously collapsed, nearly covering Guerrero with structural debris from water damage upstairs. Her bathroom ceiling and wall bear a similar patch job where the upstairs bathroom fell through.Guerrero doesn’t complain, though she said she is afraid of her upstairs neighbors who constantly threaten her; she is more afraid of losing her home, where she can afford to live close to her family. She said they would move if there was another housing option for Guerriero’s family nearby, and if they could afford to. Duncan’s other project-based apartment complex, Duncan Plaza, is for seniors over 62. Landlord Failures Can End LeasesComplexes scoring less than 60% on their HUD-required home inspections are required to promptly repair all urgent issues found during the inspections and other similar conditions. Properties that don’t comply can lose HUD funding and face debarment. Follow-up inspections are required in one year. “Landlords are required to fix problems found by inspectors before tenants move in and after each annual inspection,” said Oklahoma City Housing Authority’s executive director, Mark Gillett.Gillett said that if problems are not corrected, tenants have the right to move out and take their housing vouchers with them. People who rent outside HUD-subsidized housing programs have a legal right under the Oklahoma Residential Landlord and Tenant Act to fix problems in their apartments and deduct the costs from the following month’s rent if they follow the prescribed procedures.If repairs for essential services such as heat, running water, gas, electricity or other necessities are not made within two weeks, according to the Landlord Tenant Act, a tenant may give written notice to the landlord terminating the lease based on breach of rental agreement. That type of lease termination requires attention to policy, Gillett said, to ensure it is done legally.People who rent HUD-subsidized housing do not have such legal remedies when it comes to making their own repairs, Gillett said. They must report unrepaired damages to their local housing authority or to HUD directly, depending on who owns the complex. According to HUD, if project-based multifamily apartment residents feel their concerns are not being adequately addressed, they should contact HUD’s Multifamily Housing Complaint Line.Johnson said her apartment is crawling with bed bugs and roaches. She tried home remedies to deter the bugs, spraying household cleaners to create a barrier. Despite the pests, Johnson said she is content at Elm Terrace. She could likely qualify to move to Duncan Plaza, but she doesn’t want to move from her home and her friends, like Guerrero. Guerrero said she stops by Johnson’s apartment nearly every day to check in and do little things around the apartment to help her elderly neighbor. The residents depend on each other.“We all take care of each other here,” Guerrero said. “If we don’t take care of each other, no one else will.”Reporter Jessica Pierce contributed to this report. Heather Warlick is a reporter covering evictions, housing and homelessness. Contact her at (405) 226-1915 or [email protected]. More from Heather Warlick Mega Landlord Debarred, Oklahoma Properties FailingTwo of Oklahoma’s worst-maintained low-income apartment complexes are owned by a mega landlord that has been debarred from future HUD contracts. Out-of-state property owner Millennia Housing Management has been debarred from future HUD contracts as its Oklahoma complexes fail inspections. In Oklahoma Eviction Court, it’s Women with Children FirstHistorical and systemic discrimination against women, particularly women of color, are still affecting Oklahoma women as they face the majority of eviction filings in the state. Oklahoma Tenant Unions Give Voice to Renters’ ConcernsIn Oklahoma, several tenant unions act to protect people’s rights, safety and homes with positive results in many cases. However, Oklahoma lacks some important tenant protections that make some Oklahomans fearful to join in collective action. The post Mega Landlord Debarred, Oklahoma Properties Failing appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.