Housing Authority - Part 6

Once I got involved with this and saw the dead-end into which the tenant had run, I contacted the Executive Director of the McHenry County Housing Authority, Kim Ulbrich.

In a telephone discussion, she upheld the decision of her employees and the hearing officer.

It was obvious to me that she, too, did not understand that there was no way that a short-term collateralized loan could be income. I mean, it just does not make sense.

The only reason that it was "income" in the eyes of the Housing Authority was that the Housing Specialist, the Housing Supervisor and the hearing officer had decided to call it income. Whether or not it was legally "income".

When I inquired about the appeals process, Kim said she, as Executive Director, was not an appeals end-point. This was hard for me to grasp.

The hearing officer had conducted an "informal hearing", as identified in the decision. The Executive Director should have the authority to over-ride it, if it is wrong. Just as a judge has the authority to over-ride a decision by a jury.

But the Executive Director informed me that an appeal could only be made to HUD or through a lawsuit.

Seriously?

After I thought about that, I made a list of possible levels of appeal:

The McHenry County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners (composed of Keith Leathers, Chair (Home State Bank, Crystal Lake); Mary Reid, Vice Chair; Victor Oswald, Huntley; Mary Donner, Crystal Lake; Lyn Orphal, Huntley; Kevin Myers, Oakwood Village; Marty Kampmeier, McHenry)
The McHenry County Board
The McHenry County Mental Health Board
Thresholds
Then HUD
And then the courts

And, of course, there are the newspapers and blogs: Northwest Herald, Daily Herald, McHenry County Blog, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, and the television stations.

I started with Keith Leathers. See you tomorrow.