— Two contradictory labels apply to “Section 8” housing in Johnstown: It is highly popular, and it is highly controversial.

The demand for subsidized housing is evidenced by a waiting list that exceeds the total number of vouchers available in Cambria County.

But in some circles, Section 8 is shorthand for substandard, blighted housing.

That assertion is strongly denied by Johnstown Housing Authority officials, who say they are providing much-needed access to hundreds of rentals that must conform to strict federal standards.

“There’s a big stigma attached to Section 8,” said Susan Frommell, the authority’s occupancy director.

“We get blamed for every dilapidated dwelling in Cambria County, but the ones that are dilapidated are not in our program.”

‘The slumlords’

The structure of the Section 8 program is relatively straightforward: Low-income residents get vouchers from the federal government, and they choose a privately owned rental. The owner of that rental receives a governmental subsidy, and the tenant pays reduced rent.

But if Section 8 is widely misunderstood, there may be a good reason. Authority officials say they cannot make public a list of the properties enrolled in the program.

Dan Kanuch, the authority’s longtime executive director, said that’s because Section 8 rentals are supposed to be integrated into residential areas that consist largely of private, unsubsidized housing.

“It was designed to be a part of the neighborhood,” Kanuch said.

“That was the concept behind that.”

That lack of disclosure, however, also can feed rumor and suspicion.

In discussions about Johnstown’s pervasive blight problem, it’s a popular tactic to equate Section 8 properties with dilapidated homes.

“A lot of the people who own these houses aren’t even from Johnstown,” city Councilman Bill Gentile said.

“We’ve got what I call the slumlords. They’re the ones causing us the grief.”

MORE IN THIS SERIES:

• Click here to view our interactive map of JHA housing sites
• ‘Boarder’ battles: JHA seeks ways to curb illegal residents after violent 2011
• Housing authority leaders scramble to break down misperceptions, debunk myths
• ‘These aren’t high crime areas’: JHA pays for extra police patrols at housing sites

‘Uniform ... standards’

Last year, at Gentile’s urging and after a majority vote from City Council, Johnstown Solicitor Dave Andrews wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The document requested a review of Johnstown Housing Authority’s Section 8 program and a possible reduction in the number of local vouchers.

That, authority administrators contend, would be a big step in the wrong direction. First, they say – and officials at City Hall confirm – that Section 8 does not equal blight.

Kanuch asserts that “there couldn’t be anything further from the truth.”

And Jim White, who oversees the city’s code-enforcement efforts, agrees.

“It’s very rare that (Section 8 properties) are going to be blighted,” said White, the city’s community and economic development director.

The reason, officials say, is a federal mandate that all Section 8 rentals be inspected at least once a year.

And authority inspectors, who estimate that they conduct at least 1,000 Section 8 inspections annually, say the apartments must meet a list of “uniform physical-condition standards” set by HUD.

‘Bad paint’

Some landlords may not realize the level of detail involved, said Rick Stephenson, an authority inspector.

That includes taking notice of peeling paint.

“The biggest thing with the new landlords – we don’t tolerate bad paint,” Stephenson said.

Also, there is a clear, outsized demand for more Section 8 housing – not less.

There are 602 housing vouchers in Cambria County and more than 700 applicants on a waiting list.

The authority sees only eight to 12 families moving out of Section 8 apartments each month, Frommell said.

“The list is longer than the number of people currently using it,” she said. “It takes a long time to climb up the list, and everybody wants that program.”

Local Section 8 operations also have strong backing from federal housing administrators.

Johnstown Housing Authority scored 104 percent – out of a standard 100 percent scoring system – in Section 8 evaluations in 2010, HUD spokeswoman Maria Bynum said.

The scores are based on management, physical-building and financial reviews including an authority’s enforcement of housing-quality standards, she said.

‘Take your voucher’

In a September reply to City Council’s letter, Jacqueline Molinaro-Thompson, HUD director in Pittsburgh, wrote that Johnstown Housing Authority “consistently scores as a high performer” in annual Section 8 evaluations.

She added that “a discussion about reducing the program size would be counterproductive. This number of applicants represents a significant need for affordable housing in the Johnstown area.”

As for why the majority – 468, or nearly 78 percent – of the county’s Section 8 vouchers are within the city of Johnstown, there is an explanation: It’s no secret that the city has an abundance of cheap, available housing.

Also, that’s simply where program participants have chosen to live.

Officials point out that Section 8 vouchers are given to renters, not landlords; they can move from place to place with those vouchers.

In fact, Section 8 participants eventually can leave Cambria County after living here for 12 months.

“Then, you can take your voucher and go wherever you want to go,” Frommell said.

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