Jones Waives Rent Subsidy for Tenants
Hoping to avoid a potential conflict of interest, San Diego City Councilman William Jones has asked the city’s Housing Commission to stop sending him at least $600 a month in rent subsidies for tenants living in a small Southeast San Diego apartment complex he purchased earlier this year.
Jones told the Housing Commission that he, as landlord, will take over the subsidy payments--a gesture that Jones’ attorney, Roger Krauel, characterized Tuesday as a “substantial financial burden” for the councilman, who makes $40,000 a year.
Jones made the unusual proposal to the commission Monday, a week after officials for the housing agency learned that he had purchased the four-unit apartment complex at 3055 L St. on July 31. Commission attorneys are studying the proposal.
Tenants living in three of the units are enrolled in the Section 8 subsidy program, which uses federal money to pay part of their rents each month. About $600 in total subsidies are being paid for two tenants, and $473 for the third tenant is being withheld until Jones makes minor repairs to that unit, commission spokesman Ken Guyer said.
The subsidy program is administered by the Housing Commission. Jones, as a council member, has a final say over commission budgets and business.
Because Jones the landlord receives federal rent subsidies, it is unclear whether his votes on Housing Commission matters represent a conflict of interest. The city attorney’s office is examining the question and, on Tuesday, Jones abstained from a council vote to approve the agency’s $41.7-million budget for 1986-87.
But even if Jones continues to abstain on commission votes, he may still be in violation of federal Department of Housing and Urban Development guidelines that forbid any member of a housing authority--in this case, the City Council--from participating in housing programs, Guyer said.
It was the HUD provision, Krauel said, that prompted Jones to make his proposal to the commission. While the councilman appeals to HUD for an exemption, he will pick up the $600 in monthly subsidies, Krauel said.
“The councilman is going to be supplementing these tenants’ rents for a while because we didn’t want anything to disrupt the tenants,” Krauel said.
“It’s going to be a substantial sum for someone with his income, but he finds himself in the position of having to improve the community and because of this particular regulation, he’s not going to get rid of the people who are in his units under any circumstances.”
But Guyer said that Jones’ proposal may force the tenants from the apartments, anyway. The commission will probably disqualify the renters from the subsidy program if they don’t relocate and continue the federal payments through the normal procedure.
“If William Jones is willing to pay $1,000 a month to himself to subsidize these people, then we’re going to turn the certificates (of eligibility) to someone else,” Guyer said.
He called Jones’ predicament a “complicated legal entanglement.”
“It’s a unique situation,” Guyer said. “It’s never happened. We’ll have to figure out exactly what has to be done. . . . It’s not going to be a simple, ‘We’ll pick up the tab.’ ”
Guyer said the commission has referred the problem to its attorney for study.
Jones purchased the property for $150,000 with no money down after he received a rare loan for 100% of the sale price from Great American First Savings Bank. The loan was justified, said a Great American spokesman, because the property was entangled in a bankruptcy proceeding when Jones bought it. Officials at other savings and loans said 100% loans are highly unusual and they would not consider making one.
