Low-income residents of Greenfield Manor in the Bear/ Newark area
received the good news in early June that they had won their hard-fought right to remain
in their assisted units.
Owner Opt-Out
In September 2000 residents started receiving notices that the owner did not intend to
renew the twenty year contract with HUD, and that their affordable housing was threatened.
This was the first such owner "opt out" in the state. The notice received from
the owner had failed to include HUD-required language that after the contract expiration
the tenants could remain in their units with tenant-based enhanced vouchers. These special
vouchers allow the owner to receive a higher rent. Although the option of receiving
regular Section 8 vouchers was offered, the number of residents with chronic illnesses,
disabilities or the elderly facing a 2.1 percent rental vacancy rate in their area of New
Castle County made the prospect of finding an affordable unit particularly daunting. In
addition, by leaving Greenfield, the already low number of affordable housing units
available to the community would be further reduced.
Organizing Effort
This victory was accomplished by the residents uniting and electing a resident council
whose primary goal was to save the 100 project-based Section 8 low-income residents’
homes. The "Greenfield 100" resident council worked with supporters and
advocates to research the tenants’ rights and responsibilities as well as the
obligations of the owner and HUD to the tenants.
Speaking on behalf of her fellow residents, Tina Riley said, "I'm
absolutely elated at this news and particularly happy that the resident council is
recognized as a working partner in this process."
Many Supporters
Part of the success of the Greenfield resident council came as a result of the support
which it developed from the beginning of the crisis with other groups, including The
Bear-Glasgow Resident Association, the Delaware Housing Coalition, the State Wide
Association of Tenants, Community Legal Aid Society of Delaware, the League of Women
Voters of New Castle County, and local faith-based support, especially the Marshallton
United Methodist Church and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the offices of
Senators Biden and Carper and Congressman Castle. The National Alliance of HUD Tenants,
the National Housing Law Project, and Horn & Associates provided invaluable support
and technical assistance at the national level.
May Rally
At a rally in mid-May between their homes and Route 40, the residents of
Greenfield Manor threatened with eviction made it clear that: they were not given proper
notice and that the owner could not refuse enhanced vouchers in violation of federal law.
Accompanied by friends and supporters from churches, civic groups and the media the
residents addressed their overriding concern: Their desire and legal right to remain under
the "enhanced voucher" option.
Greenfield Manor Resident Council Vice President Debby Dillon and
President Diane Berry, described the sadness and confusion that residents felt when
officials and ownership failed to acknowledge their right to remain.
DSHA Director’s Intervention
Just at the point when residents and their attorneys at Community Legal Aid were
preparing for court action, work came that the new Director of the Delaware State Housing
Authority, Saundra Ross Johnson, had met with the owners of Greenfield Manor and worked
out an agreement by which enhanced vouchers would be accepted and the possibility of
renewing the Section 8 contract with HUD would be explored.
[see related article]
