IHA failed renters it was supposed to protect. Here’s what you need to know
(MIRROR INDY) — Mirror Indy is investigating how the Indianapolis Housing Agency’s failures are fueling a crisis in a city that sees an average of more than 60 eviction filings every day.
We published the first two investigative articles this month:
- Broken Housing: How Indy’s public housing agency fuels a crisis
- Broken Housing: How a breakdown with IHA put this man on the streets
Here is a quick rundown of what’s happening.
What is IHA?
IHA is our city’s public housing authority. It is funded and regulated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development with some oversight from the Indianapolis mayor’s office and the City-County Council.
IHA is supposed to be a safety net for low-income renters. One of its biggest responsibilities is providing Section 8 vouchers that subsidize rent at apartments and other homes.
But our reporting uncovered how IHA has mismanaged its voucher program for at least two decades.
How are Indianapolis residents affected?
We spoke to Section 8 renters who said IHA has made their lives harder.
Paige Miller, for example, told us that she was placed in a unit that was unsafe for her and her children. She tried to contact IHA, but said she didn’t get a response.
Some renters became homeless.
Randi Atwell, Kevin Nestor and Amidy Merry were all Section 8 voucher holders living in the same Beech Grove apartment complex. They were evicted by their landlord after he bought the complex in March.
Why were Section 8 renters evicted?
The renters in Beech Grove said they did nothing wrong.
But they were kicked out after some sort of breakdown between IHA and their new landlord, Dennis Brackenridge.
Brackenridge said he tried to get in touch with the agency, but never heard back. IHA’s interim CEO at the time, Greg Stocking, said IHA initially didn’t get the information it needed from Brackenridge.
Either way, that meant Brackenridge was not receiving rent money from IHA.
Brackenridge filed at least 21 evictions against Section 8 renters by June 7, according to court records.
What are the problems with IHA vouchers?
It’s a long story.
IHA’s mired in at least two decades of mismanagement and other problems, according to our reporting.
For our investigation, we reviewed more than 1,000 pages of government documents. Among them are several federal audits that outline the problems at the agency.
One of the most persistent problems was the misspending of housing choice voucher funds. In their 2007 audit, HUD officials determined IHA had spent nearly $1 million of voucher funds on unrelated expenses, such as staff travel and advertising.
HUD again said IHA misspent voucher dollars in its 2018 and 2023 audits.
And in some years, IHA did not distribute all of the housing vouchers for which it had federal funding to do so.
One HUD audit estimated that IHA could have housed 1,800 additional families with available funding in a single year.
What other problems are happening at IHA?
Those audits also say IHA had a “lack of internal controls” around its finances, which made it vulnerable.
In one example, HUD said a single employee had access to IHA bank accounts and could issue checks and cash disbursements without needing approval from another employee or supervisor.
It also appears many of the agency’s procedures and technologies were outdated. IHA relied heavily on paper files as recently as 2020, which made working during the pandemic difficult.
And as recently as June 2021, some IHA computers were still operating on Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008.
Microsoft discontinued support for those operating systems in January 2020, meaning they no longer provided security updates.
It’s unclear if those computers had been updated by October 2022, when the agency was the victim of the first of two cyberattacks.
Who’s in charge of IHA?
IHA is a federally funded and regulated agency that, until earlier this year, operated with oversight from Indy’s mayor and City-County Council.
The mayor and the council previously appointed most of IHA’s board of commissioners. The mayor also selected the executive director, who was subject to the council’s approval.
After the scathing results of HUD’s 2018 audit became public, Mayor Joe Hogsett promised to reform the agency. But a subsequent HUD audit conducted four years later showed major problems persisted.
Due to the severity of the agency’s problems, HUD took over the agency in April. It is a rare and drastic measure, according to legal experts, used only in the most dire of circumstances.
The federal agency also replaced the mayor- and council-appointed board members with a single HUD-appointed one.
Who’s to blame?
Mirror Indy tried to answer the question of who was responsible for IHA’s failures.
Hogsett declined an interview request through his spokesperson.
A city spokesperson, in a written response to Mirror Indy’s questions, said the Hogsett administration has limited authority over IHA but noted the city has contributed at least $3.34 million in loans, direct cash assistance and technology upgrades since 2020.
City-County Council President Vop Osili, in an interview, also said the council had little power to spur change at IHA.
Reporters also tried to contact every person who was on the board at the time of HUD’s takeover. Most either declined or did not respond to interview requests. Attempts to reach three of the board members were unsuccessful.
Richard Monocchio, principal deputy assistant secretary of HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing, initially agreed to an interview but canceled after Mirror Indy sent the findings of this investigation.
A HUD spokesperson also did not answer a list of emailed questions, instead sending a statement.
IHA “had failed to provide decent, safe, and sanitary housing,” and HUD has been collaborating with the city to address “longstanding issues,” the statement read, in part. “Our priority is a safe and supportive housing environment.”
Who we are and how to reach us
We are continuing to report on the Indianapolis Housing Agency and its nonprofit development arm, Insight Development Corp.
If you have any information, questions or concerns you would like to share, you can reach us at the contact information listed here.
Tyler Fenwick writes about housing and homelessness for Mirror Indy. You can reach him by phone or on Signal at 317-766-1406. His email address is tyler.fenwick@mirrorindy.org. He’s also on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick and Bluesky @tyfenwick.bsky.social.
Emily Hopkins is a Mirror Indy reporter focused on data and accountability. You can reach them on phone or Signal at 317-790-5268 or by email at emily.hopkins@mirrorindy.org. Follow them on most social media @indyemapolis or on Bluesky @emilyhopkins.bsky.social.