Sherwood Glen residents face eviction after loss of USDA assistance

MOBERLY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Some residents at Sherwood Glen Apartments are facing eviction after losing access to a federal rental assistance program.

Tenants at Sherwood Glen Apartments, located at 1000 S. William St. in Moberly, previously received rental assistance through a U.S. Department of Agriculture program designed to help lower-income households in rural communities afford housing.

The apartments were previously managed by Maco Management Co. Property manager Ivan Thomas said the complex was sold June 15, and the new owners hired HomeWise Properties, a Moberly-based rental property management company, to manage the apartments.

Thomas said the original USDA program was only available to the property's original owners, meaning the new owners could not continue participating in it.

Thomas said USDA initially told HomeWise that residents would be able to receive replacement vouchers through a separate assistance program within 60 to 90 days.

But after about 90 days, Thomas said the USDA told the property owners that it had run out of funding and residents would have to wait for additional federal funding to become available.

ABC 17 reached out to the USDA for comment and has not yet received a response.

Thomas said HomeWise has encouraged residents to apply for a separate USDA voucher program. He said the property owners are also accepting reduced rent payments from residents who previously received assistance while they wait for their applications to be approved.

Thomas said management has accepted, on average, approximately one-third or less of the full rent from those tenants.

“Say the previous program was paying $900 and the tenant had to pay $76. Well, if they don’t pay $76, then we’re going to evict because you’re not even doing what … you were doing before,” Thomas said. “... The property owner is losing, you know, tens of thousands of dollars in an effort to give the USDA time to hopefully be funded.”

Thomas estimated the property owners are losing about $10,000 a month because of the reduced rent payments. He said the owners do not want to evict residents simply because the federal assistance program ended.

“We’ve opted to generally only evict those who have not contributed towards their rent amount the same as they were prior to the sale because the vouchers and the program only pay part of the rent,” Thomas said. 

HomeWise has filed 15 petitions for recovery of possession for nonpayment of rent this year, according to records on Case.net. The filings show amounts claimed ranging from approximately $1,000 to $5,000.

One resident said nearly all of their rent was previously covered through the USDA program. The resident said their monthly housing costs could increase to approximately $1,000 without the assistance.

This resident said they have concerns about eviction after receiving a court summons last month. 

Thomas said residents facing eviction generally have not paid their previous portion of the rent or have not completed applications for the replacement USDA voucher program. He said management has given residents nearly five months to complete the applications.

Also, Thomas said not all of those 15 petitions were related to the USDA funding. He said 

Thomas said one resident who had applied for the replacement voucher program and continued paying their portion of the rent is also facing eviction, but for a separate lease violation.

Two Sherwood Glen residents spoke with ABC 17 under the condition of anonymity, citing concerns about possible retaliation.

Thomas also confirmed that rents increased by approximately $20 following the sale of the property.

He said USDA assessed the property's rental rates before the sale and determined that two-bedroom apartments could be rented for $998 a month and one-bedroom apartments for $898 a month.

Previously, two-bedroom apartments rented for $976 a month, while one-bedroom apartments rented for $876.

Thomas said the previous owners waited until after the sale to implement the increases. He said the new owners chose to keep rents at the amounts USDA had previously approved rather than raise them further.