Prospective Homebuyer's Need To Be Aware Of The Problems In Richard Huffman's East Austin Development Known As Heritage Village

Due To the Ongoing Problems In Heritage Village, Voice of The Austin Majority has chosen to publish this anonymous letter that was forwarded to Section 8 authorities in Travis County.

After this letter, you will find the original posting regarding Heritage Village that was published on Sept. 21 2004.
TO:
Section 8
This Letter Is To Remain Anonymous and the authors of this letter do not wish to be disclosed to either the owner of the Section 8 properties, the tenants of the properties, or the HOA president Richard Huffman. Please mail a written confirmation of this agreement from you to us before this letter is shared with any other party.
FROM:
Homeowners
Heritage Village Drive
Austin, Texas 78724
This letter is being regretfully written. Why regret? I regret that the Owner or Owners of the Section 8 rental homes were ever allowed to be placed in my community, of which, is a Homeowners Association and, the President of the HOA, Richard Huffman should have consulted with property owners in the area about what was coming to the neighborhood.
Instead, we were all mislead about the vision of this community; supposedly a neighborhood of "family values and pride of home ownership in the City Limits of Austin..."
This community, almost overnight; after the homes were constructed and have been rented to Section 8 tenants has already turned into a community where violence, drug activity, gang activity and beyond is blossoming in an already disgusting area of the city, known as East Austin.
East Austin would not have been our first choice... it’s not exactly glamorous or a nice community, but we were enticed by a down-payment assistance loan from Austin Housing, and a low interest rate, with the almost certain idea that buying a home here would be a great investment and a step up in the world. Frankly, due to the above referenced properties, has been a significant step down and an extremely horrible investment. Our home will almost surely sit on the market for a long while if the current situations are not remedied. Will we be satisfied if the current problem neighbors are evicted? NO. Yes, we would like to see them move out of the home, but what confidence can we have in Section 8 and Richard Huffman not to let this happen again?
So many problems have occurred with Section 8 neighbors that it will be impossible to list them all. One chief complaint is the yelling and screaming fits and fights that occur on an almost daily basis. The Austin Police Department has been awful in dealing with the problems. When called, we have been told that we were to contact the HOA president and Section 8 to file complaints, and that the police could only do so much. However, when taking the advice of the police, little to nothing has been done by the HOA president, and Section 8 has been responsive, but the problems here have gone on longer than we wish our hard-earned tax dollars to support.
To give you an example of a typical day, when gardening, one homeowner carries a knife in the likely event that self defense should become necessary. Are we afraid of our safety due to this? YES. We can not even stand on our front lawn without being harassed for money, beer, or cigarettes- or rides to the store or use of our phone... What kind of a "Hyde Park Style Neighborhood" (as the Huffman website suggests) is this?
The other day upon coming home, we observed a man yelling and tearing the screens off of the windows and screaming obscenities for all to hear. To top this off, the woman that lives inside the house yelled for the "white guy" to do something. Why should this be our responsibility?
We don’t just want these tenants evicted. Other tenants in the Section 8 homes have also become problems. Even the one woman who seems to keep to herself speeds through the neighborhood in her red VW Bug. Just today problems have started with another of the Section 8 tenants playing music with curse words at such a high volume level that even though all of the windows and doors were closed on our home, and the AC and TV were on, the house still vibrated and pounded. This is incredibly dis-respectful, at any hour of the day, and will not be tolerated. We have observed and smelled illegal drugs (possibly crack cocaine) like marijuana from the neighbors who have the nerve to smoke them on their front porch! Problems started immediately with them after they moved in, and have only grown worse. The neighborhood has had a severe problem with flies because for a long while because your tenants did not have trash service and when complaints were filed with Richard Huffman it took several days to get the trash removed.
It is sad when you can not relax in your own home. We have noticed that many of the people you rent too do not hold jobs, and cars come and go all day long. They pull into the driveway and honk the horn and someone runs out to the car window and the car leaves shortly after this. What does this suggest to you? A Christian outreach program? We think not. Even after repeated conversations with one neighbor who has schizophrenia to please not pound on our door and ring the doorbell for several minutes at the time... this was a common occurance. Privacy has been invaded on several occasions when this individual came over and asked questions as to how much our Lexus and PT Cruiser cost and how much the stereos are worth that are inside of these higher-end cars. This, we believe is not an innocent question- due to the fact that it has been reported to us that a Hispanic young male that visits the Section 8 neighbors had broken into several cars in the community.
As you can see by reading this essay, we are very upset with both Richard Huffman and the Section 8 program for allowing our neighborhood to become an unsafe, drug and crime infested area in which you do not feel safe in your own home.
Our prediction is that if Section 8 tenants continue to inhabit Heritage Village that we will have continued problems. This is not to say that Section 8 is a bad program, we understand that it is a useful form of Social Housing- for the disabled and elderly, the sick and the oppressed- however, the majority of your tenants in this community are milking the system and causing problems, and this will not be tolerated nor overlooked.
Please do not think you will make us happy by simply evicting the one family in question. Yes, this will be a temporary Band- Aid solution to problems. Sure, we’ll sleep easier knowing that they are gone, but we believe that the problems will not stop unless both the HOA President is removed from his position and the Landlords that collect Section 8 rent monies in this neighborhood are suspended of the ability to be part of the Section 8 program.
Regards,
Two Homeowners that live in Heritage Village

ORIGINAL POSTING:

I am one pissed-off homeowner. I live in Heritage Village, (east Austin), a new community of homeowners that have been taken advantage of!
Anonymously circulated today: the following letter to all of the homeowner's in the Heritage Village HOA. We will also be mailing copies to the Austin City Council, the HOA President, KVUE News, and Austin Area Radio Stations, not to mention The Austin American- Statesman.DON"T GET SCAMMED BY THE FAST TALKING REPUBLICAN HOA PRESIDENT!Were You told when you bought your home here in Heritage Village that section 8 housing would be your neighbor?Overwhelmingly, the answer is no.We were taken advantage of as new home buyers with middle class incomes.We were offered incentives to own our homes in East Austin. We were promised a "Hyde Park style community"- WE DID NOT GET THIS!Do you wonder why homes are not selling as fast as when you bought your house?If you have lived here any length of time, you have seen a nice little community turn into an East Austin nice-looking slum.Who is to blame for this?Have you had to call the police lately? Most of us have. Some of the Government Subsidized Rentals here have been causing violence, noise disturbance, harassment, car break- ins, and drug activity.Have you complained to our President Richard Huffman?Has anything really been done?Where has your $$$$$ gone that you have paid to the Home Owners Association?Are the roads kept clean? Or are there non- running automobiles sitting in front of homes and in yards?Has anybody knocked on your door lately begging for money or alchohol?Have you complained and it still happens?Can you honestly say you are PROUD to live in Heritage Village?Is it everything you were promised?Would have bought here if you knew there were going to be Section 8 Rentals?We were promised a community that would be professionally managed.Are you getting your money’s worth?Call Richard Huffman today and DEMAND he turn over his Presidency of the Home Owner’s Association to a PROFESSIONAL firm. Call the REALTOR that sold you the home and DEMAND their backing!After all, if they clean up the problems in this new community, they will be able to sell their homes and we will have decent neighbors. Our property will go up in value in the community is well- maintained. We will be able to walk our streets and in our yards without the fear of gang and drug activity.Don’t think there is any gang or drug activity going on here? Knock door to door and ask your neighbor what they have seen!Let’s work together to make this neighborhood the safe neighborhood in East Austin.Section 8 Tax Credits are a program of the Internal Revenue Service, where landlords obtain tax benefits for renting to low income households.If you are aware of fraud, waste, and abuse in SECTION 8 HUD programs and operations, report it to HUD's Inspector General Hotline!(Don’t know what what homes are Section 8 in Heritage Village?- Call Heritage Village HOA President Richard Huffmann.)What kinds of things should you report? Mismanagement or violations of law, rules, or regulations by HUD employees or program participants.Your complaint will be kept confidential if it is received on the phone, through the mail, or in person. We cannot guarantee confidentiality if you send your complaint by e-mail.Laws protect you from reprisals (any action taken against you because you filed this complaint).You can submit your complaint one of 4 ways:Online, through e-mail. Remember: if you submit your complaint online (through e-mail), it is possible - though unlikely - that others could read it since the internet is not secure.By Phone:Call toll free: 1-800-347-3735TDD: 202- 708-2451By Fax: 202- 708-4829By Mail:Department of Housing & Urban DevelopmentOffice of Inspector General HotlineAssistant Inspector General for Investigations451 7th Street, S.W., Room 8270,Washington, DC 20410
posted by Joshua P. Angell at 21.9.04

posted by Joshua P. Angell  @ 22.9.04

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