Counselors come to aid of families displaced by toxic Huntington Meadows apartment complex

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http://enquirer.com/editions/2002/07/24/loc_counselors_come_to.html

Wednesday, July 24, 2002

Counselors come to aid of families

Apartment shutdown displacing tenants

By Randy Tucker, rtucker@...

The Cincinnati Enquirer

At 9 a.m. today, the Greater Cincinnati Mortgage Counseling Service

on Reading Road will open its doors to dozens of low-income apartment

dwellers who may soon be forced to find another place to live.

More than 600 families from the Huntington Meadows apartment complex

in Bond Hill have been told they may have to leave their homes because of

unhealthy living conditions, including raw sewage in basements, dangerous

mold and asbestos.

A U.S. magistrate judge will decide Friday if the 65-acre complex of

low-income apartments and townhouses should be closed because it's a health

threat, which would require the city of Cincinnati to provide financial

assistance to displaced residents.

But regardless of the judge's decision, the property is expected to

be sold at foreclosure later this year or in early 2003 because the company

that runs the complex - land-based Habitat America - says it's running

out of cash.

That means Huntington Meadows residents are running out of time.

The operators of the nonprofit mortgage counseling service at 7710

Reading Road want to make sure those residents get the help they need

leasing another apartment or even buying a home.

" This is the first time we've had a situation where a whole complex

has been shut down, " said Crawford, a spokeswoman for the

Roselawn-based counseling service.

" At this point, some people don't know what to do or where to turn.

We felt that someone needed to step up and at least see what they could do

to help. "

Housing counselors, mortgage lenders and even employers - including

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Provident Bank and Wells

Fargo - will be present to help soon-to-be displaced residents get financial

help, find better jobs, even buy a house.

" Everybody may not be ready for home ownership, but some might be

surprised to learn that they are, " Ms. Crawford said. " We just want people

to know what their options are. "

Ms. Crawford said the local chapter of the National Association for

the Advancement of Colored People and the nonprofit Housing Opportunities

Made Equal also have promised to help.

Both organizations can offer grants of up to $2,500 in down payment

assistance to Huntington Meadows residents.

Ms. Crawford said a down payment is all many Huntington Meadows

residents would need to relocate.

" Everybody thinks people over there are in Section 8 or reduced rate

housing, " she said. " But a lot of those people over there are paying market

rates of up to $500 a month. "