“My middle names mean love and beautiful gem,” said 8-year-old Tirzah Johnson on Thursday in a McDonald’s on Kennedy Blvd. in Union City, blocks from the hotels where she, her sister and brother, and her mother have been staying for two months with the last of their savings. Now they have to fear they will soon become homeless – and their mother is concerned because the state’s Division of Youth and Family Services has gotten involved.
Danyse Johnson, the children’s mother, received a federal Section 8 voucher from her hometown of Spokane, Wash., just after she had her youngest son, Kaleo, now 10 months. The house she had been renting under the voucher was foreclosed in August of 2011, forcing her to relocate. She had always wanted to attend school in the New York City area, and said her housing officer in Washington told her that her voucher was portable and she could use it anywhere.
“It’s turned out to be a total nightmare.” – Danyse Johnson
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That’s when the trouble started.
She said that the West New York Housing Authority told her she could not use the voucher. She said that officials told her she has to find an apartment for $1,200, utilities included, or the voucher would not be honored.
Under federal law, a Section 8 housing voucher will cover most or all of a family’s rent, depending on the family’s income and the amount of the rent. If the rent amount is over a certain limit, a family may pay up to 30 percent of their income to cover it, but no more. Limits are set according to prevailing rents in the area.
Johnson currently receives $349 from the State of Washington for adoption support (Tirzah is adopted), $131 in Child Support, and $520 in monthly Welfare from the state of New Jersey — Welfare that she says WNYHA Executive Director Robert DiVincent required her to apply for before accepting the voucher.
From Washington to homelessness
Johnson said the Spokane Housing Authority (SHA) told her she had the option to “port,” which meant she could take her voucher to any place in the U.S. that honored it.
Johnson first tried Jersey City. The Jersey City portability officer accepted her Section 8 paperwork. Johnson arrived in the area on Sept. 15 and stayed in Weehawken with a friend she’d known since kindergarten, while she searched for apartments.
With three kids, the government figured her allowable rent based on two bedrooms. But she said that several Jersey City landlords with reasonable rents were unwilling to accept her voucher.
She then found the apartment in West New York. She spoke with the West New York Housing Authority’s (WNYHA) portability specialist to make sure she could transfer her voucher. She said she received the go-ahead.
But she said that officials changed their minds. Johnson claims that when she visited the WNYHA’s offices, she was told that they had never received her Section 8 paperwork from Spokane. In the meantime, her Weehakwen friend’s landlord told the family they could no longer stay in the apartment, so she moved into local hotels.
The family also has a dog, making their hotel options limited.
After several more visits to the WNYHA, she called the Spokane Housing Authority and had them speak directly with the portability specialist, confirming that she was legitimate.
Johnson was finally referred to DiVincent, who – she said – told her she needed to first apply for Welfare from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). She said she was also told that it was “preferred” that she be in the Section 8 program for 12 months (she had only been in it for 10) before she applied for a new port, even though she had called in advance for approval.
DiVincent did not return a phone call by press time.
Situation gets worse
Johnson says what happened next felt like an “interrogation.”
She said the Housing Authority told her they would deny her application to transfer the voucher on the basis of her credit report, which had not been an issue when she first received the voucher.
Then the WNYHA referred her case to the NJ Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS), alleging her children were in jeopardy. She said that her case manager saw that there was no issue, and actually accompanied Johnson back to the WNYHA to support her in trying to get housing.
During this process, Johnson’s funds were eaten up by cab fare and hotel costs. She said a West New York resident — “my angel,” she called him — paid for nine nights at the Days Inn in North Bergen. But her time was running out.
When Johnson returned to the WNYHA , this time accompanied by her DYFS representative, they approved the unit Johnson wished to rent for $1,250, she said. Under Section 8, each unit rented by a voucher tenant must undergo an inspection, and if it fails, the voucher will be denied.
Johnson was aware of this possibility, so she went back to the office (unaccompanied by her caseworker this time, but still with her three kids) and asked for the handbook outlining the process she would have to go through. She said they refused to give her a handbook, revoked the application they had just approved, and handed her a sticky note in lieu of a handbook stating she had to find an apartment for $1,200, utilities included.
Johnson alleges that the Housing Authority then encouraged her to make a side deal with the possible landlords to make the paperwork reflect a $1,200 rent even though it wasn’t the case. She said she has since met other local landlords who allege that the Housing Authority encourages this all the time, even if it’s technically illegal and may hurt those who are honest.
When she refused to leave the office without the handbook, an assistant left the room to get one. Johnson said she and her kids waited until eventually the workers shut down the lights and left the building.
The office maintenance man, who was the only one left in the building, told her she had to go, she said. She said she told him she was waiting for the assistant to return with the handbook. The man called the West New York police and she was forced to leave, she said.
Where to go from here?
Johnson and her three children remain without a home. She has managed to enroll Tirzah in the West New York school system with the help of the Board of Education, but because she has been unable to find a proper residence, the DYFS case has been reopened.
Johnson says she was told by the Hudson County Department of Social and Health Services that she and her children are eligible for emergency assistance that would hypothetically provide her with extra cash and, most importantly, interim shelter. But she said that when she applied, she was denied because she and her family have not been residents for six months. She has also been denied help from a local shelter because they only accept adult women and not children, she said.
She said that every day, she is trying to look for apartments that meet the $1,200 (including utilities) requirement, but it’s gotten harder now that she has to worry about losing her children.
She is desperate to find a place to live and a way to care for her kids.
“When I received this voucher, I thought it was a gift,” Johnson said on Wednesday. “It’s turned out to be a total nightmare. I just need a place to live so I can begin to put my life back together.”
Johnson said she called the office of West New York Mayor Felix Roque, but was told by a staffer to simply follow the housing rules. She has not yet reached out to local or federal legislators.
If you can help Johnson and her family, please e-mail her at danysejohnson@yahoo.com.
Gennarose Pope may be reached at gpope@hudsonreporter.com/a>