Female public housing tenants say official sought "Services" for rent

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Thoughts on this?

Heres my 2 pennies.. These "tenants" were not victims. They were doing this  and once they realtesed they couldnt get more $$ or wanted to get back at the guy they reported it. 

Devils Advocate: This dude was pimping tenants for 50's for multiple times. Thats a huge ROI..

Thoughts on this one..

I'm not suprised at all. This is very common place now. The females in this places dont have any shame about it unless you call them out on their activity. then its a twitter uproar..

What are you guys thoughts....

Link:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article48205815.html

The public housing tenant was unemployed and needed money to pay rent last year when she said a Hickory housing official started calling and visiting her home uninvited.

He suggested he could help her with rent money in return for sex, she said. Despite her reluctance, she said, he got what he wanted.

MonteleBurton


Alanda%20Richardson


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Alanda Richardson The Hickory Public Housing Authority

“I was afraid (the Housing Authority) would retaliate against me,” said the woman, who is a single mother. “I was shocked and felt, ‘If I say no, what’s going to happen to me?’”

The allegations are summarized in a complaint letter three former Hickory Public Housing Authority employees sent to federal officials and that is part of an anticipated lawsuit.

Legal experts and advocacy groups said the Hickory case fits a familiar pattern where men target poor, single mothers who are fearful of losing affordable housing.

Nationally, hundreds of sexual harassment complaints are filed each year against public housing providers. The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees government-subsidized housing nationwide, has proposed new rules to combat sexual harassment.

“Instances of harassment in recent years have become more egregious,” said Gustavo Velasquez, HUD assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity. “We need to clarify the problem with housing providers. We want them to have sanctions and protocols. We want them to report criminal behavior.”

But the Hickory case also illustrates how local public housing agencies fail to detect and eliminate employees suspected of preying on residents.

The accused employee has worked at six different housing agencies in the Carolinas and Virginia, including the Charlotte Housing Authority. Despite being placed on a “do not rehire” list after he left Charlotte, he went on to work at other housing authorities, including in Statesville, where he works today.

Louise Fitzgerald, a professor of psychology and gender studies at the University of Illinois, said the case is remarkably similar to other examples of sexual harassment in housing.

“It is one of the last great open secrets,” Fitzgerald said. “The victims are universally poor. Nobody wants to believe them. It is an enormous problem.”
[h3]Widespread problem[/h3]
Legal experts say sexual harassment in housing is widespread, particularly in public housing and other government-subsidized programs.

HUD receives roughly 1,600 to 1,900 harassment complaints each year and the vast majority involve sexual harassment, a violation of federal law.

But no one knows exactly the depth of the problem. Many cases go unreported, experts say, and scant research exists on the issue.

Rigel Oliveri, a law professor at the University of Missouri, said she has interviewed 100 low-income, female tenants in Columbia, Mo., and 10 said they had experienced sexual harassment. She said the problem is likely more common in large cities, where there is concentrated poverty and a lack of affordable housing.

Often, experts said, male public housing officials who have the power to evict tenants become emboldened to control the lives of female tenants. They can get keys to units, for example, and prevent them from having visitors.

Recent cases have drawn legal action, including in July when Southeastern Community and Family Services Inc. in Robeson County, N.C., agreed to pay $2.7 million in damages after two public housing administrators were accused of offering subsidized housing vouchers in exchange for sex acts.

In September, a group of public housing tenants sued the city of Baltimore housing authority alleging that maintenance men demanded sex in exchange for repairs. A judge has ordered the two sides into settlement talks.
[h3]Hickory allegations[/h3]
In Hickory, a female tenant produced text messages, recorded conversations and even her child as a witness to corroborate her allegations, according to the 10-page letter signed by former employees.

She and other Hickory public housing tenants are part of an anticipated lawsuit alleging former Property Operations Manager Montele Burton sexually harassed them. Greensboro attorney Craig Hensel, who represents the women, said at least six tenants have come forward so far to allege they were sexually harassed by Burton or other employees.

In separate interviews, three of the women accused Burton of making suggestive comments, threatening them and offering to pay their rent in exchange for sexual favors. The Observer is not publishing their names because they still live in public housing and fear reprisals.

The women did not report the incidents to police. That is common in such cases, said Oliveri, the professor, who is also a former attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division. Prosecutors are reluctant to seek charges because it is difficult to define when sexual harassment becomes criminal, she said.

In one case, a woman said she was struggling financially in the fall of 2014 when Burton started texting and calling her late at night.

The woman said she relied on Hickory’s public housing agency for an apartment that cost her $50 a month.

She said Burton promised to help her.

“I did what I had to do,” the woman said. “I have been homeless before. I didn’t want to be homeless again.”

By January 2015, she said she wanted to break off the relationship. Burton threatened her and said he had the power to evict her from her home, she said.

Hensel, the attorney, said the woman recently filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which helps enforce fair employment laws.

She said she once worked for $9 per hour cleaning vacant units for the Housing Authority, but her hours were drastically reduced after she told agency leaders about her relationship with Burton. Some weeks, she said, she received no work at all.

The single mother who feared eviction said she was struggling to pay her $50 monthly rent when Burton propositioned her in late September or early October of 2014.

“He said ‘I can help you, if you help me,’” the woman recalled. “He said ‘We’re all adults here. I think you know what I mean.’”

She said she agreed to perform sex acts and Burton made several rent payments on her behalf. He swore her to secrecy, she said.
[h3]‘A witch hunt’[/h3]
Burton, who has not been criminally charged, defended himself in two interviews with the Observer. He said he is the victim of unfair attacks orchestrated by former Hickory co-workers and tenants who didn’t pay their rent on time.

“It’s a witch hunt,” Burton said. “This is the art of retaliation.”

Burton said problems started when he refused to help a group of disgruntled co-workers who wanted the Hickory Housing Authority’s executive director, Alanda Richardson, fired.

Tenants, Burton said, seek revenge because he was put in charge of making sure rent payments were timely. He said he enforced the rules more strictly than his predecessor and threatened to take several tenants to court for eviction proceedings.

Dawn Hanzlik-Hexemer, an attorney representing the Hickory Public Housing Authority, said there were employees who disliked Richardson’s management style. And she said the agency had moved to more strictly enforce lease terms.

Richardson, who has led Hickory public housing for 17 years, said her agency handled the accusations against Burton appropriately.

Burton worked for the Housing Authority for about a year, and Richardson said he performed well in several different roles.

She said the agency suspended Burton on Feb. 6 after discovering an alleged inappropriate relationship with a tenant. Burton resigned effective Feb. 13.

Richardson said she did not hear about other accusations against Burton until this past summer. That’s when an attorney distributed 600 mailings to current and former tenants asking if they had been harassed, extorted for sex or threatened by Burton. The mailing said the Housing Authority may have known about the harassment but did not move quickly to stop it.

Following recent reports by the Observer about alleged misspending and ethical lapses at the Hickory Public Housing Authority, HUD launched a review of the agency’s operations. Federal officials have not divulged details about the review. Richardson has denied any wrongdoing.
[h3]‘Nowhere to turn’[/h3]
Some former employees say Richardson turned her back on the alleged victims.

Glenn Pinckney, a former employee who signed the complaint letter sent to federal officials, said he and two other former employees decided to speak up after seeing how the agency was hurting the people it was supposed to help.

Female tenants began coming forward in late 2014 and told a manager that Burton sexually harassed them, said Pinckney, who assisted tenants with self-improvement for the Housing Authority.

The complaint letter says tenants kept quiet about the alleged harassment because Burton threatened to evict them from their homes.

When two agency administrators lobbied for Richardson to investigate the accusations, the letter says, Richardson questioned the tenants’ credibility and took no immediate action.

“(Richardson) also stated that ‘We have to be careful what we believe because tenants will lie,’” the document says. “(Richardson) made excuses for Mr. Burton.”

Pinckney said he prays recent public attention on the case will prompt changes in Hickory public housing.

“This was the ultimate victimization of women,” Pinckney said. “They have nowhere to turn (for housing). Where are you going to go with your kids? The only other place to go is the street.”

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article48205815.html#storylink=cpy
 
How are they not victims of circumstance?
you have to read the whole article.. There rent is $50 bucks.. One worked for the place for $9 an hour. Youre telling me someone can clean a spot up for 50 bucks..

Fifty Bucks.. I betcha the phone bill is more than that..lol
 
Leveraging housing for sex. Dude has the total look to be doing that. Using these chicks like his own personal ***** house :smh:

Such a cold world.
 
I actually read the article maybe I misunderstood


Yes some lady cleans and another had low paying job both have kids they are poor, guy using that to his advantage
 
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I didn't read your 2 cents on this initially OP. I just read the article first. These women weren't prostitutes.

How are they not victims? Especially when one of their children can corroborate the claims?

It really simply comes down to who did the soliciting and hell even then on the female's part there's a lot to say about their mind frame and the life they lived up until that point being victims of past acts of sex for compensation.
 
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I didn't read your 2 cents on this initially OP. These women weren't prostitutes.

How are they not victims? Especially when one of their children can corroborate the claims?
EXACTLY.. This man did not coerce them. They prolly was bragging about it to their other friends and foud out one was getting more from him and she got mad.

If your kids know the landlord is making visits and fixing more things than the house, you have phone conversations of it, how are you a victim? You wanted him to yourself or wanted more money for it. I'm prety sure he was getting women throwing themselves at him so they could live for free rent.
 
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I didn't read your 2 cents on this initially OP. These women weren't prostitutes.


How are they not victims? Especially when one of their children can corroborate the claims?
EXACTLY.. This man did not coerce them. They prolly was bragging about it to their other friends and foud out one was getting more from him and she got mad.
If your kids know the landlord is making visits and fixing more things than the house, you have phone conversations of it, how are you a victim? You wanted him to yourself or wanted more money for it. I'm prety sure he was getting women throwing themselves at him so they could live for free rent.

Man you sound so stupid.
 
I didn't read your 2 cents on this initially OP. These women weren't prostitutes.

How are they not victims? Especially when one of their children can corroborate the claims?
EXACTLY.. This man did not coerce them.
Exactly what? :lol: Do you not know what it is to be held at a disadvantage when your livelihood is at stake? Pressed between being homeless (again with your kid) or performing a sex act.

Are you saying cuz he didn't rape them they're not victims or something? The second he solicited them knowing they couldn't pay is when they became victims b.

They prolly was bragging about it to their other friends and foud out one was getting more from him and she got mad.
Where are you getting this from? :lol: Just pure imagination? Past experiences? A Zane novel? What? :nerd:

If your kids know the landlord is making visits and fixing more things than the house, you have phone conversations of it, how are you a victim?
How are you not a victim when you're put in a situation where you have to perform a sex act on a man so that you can keep living in your place while your child is still in the house?

If the females planned this wouldn't it be smart for them to make sure their children weren't home? or are you saying on top of being amateur prostitutes you're also saying these women are the worst mothers too?

You wanted him to yourself or wanted more money for it. I'm prety sure he was getting women throwing themselves at him so they could live for free rent.
Pretty sure based off what? Can't be anything in the article :lol: :smh:
 
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Parts of the story are missing since we don't know who made the offers. But I would also reserve calling the women victims outright. But that is because I don't know the whole truth
 
I don't know whats more disturbing this fat pervert or your poorly articulated,ignorant *** blanket statements.


And you actually think Zik is agreeing with you?

Dude how old are you?
 
EXACTLY.. This man did not coerce them. They prolly was bragging about it to their other friends and foud out one was getting more from him and she got mad.
If your kids know the landlord is making visits and fixing more things than the house, you have phone conversations of it, how are you a victim? You wanted him to yourself or wanted more money for it. I'm prety sure he was getting women throwing themselves at him so they could live for free rent.

Lmaoooo @ women throwing themselves at him...stop it 5 I think all parties involved should be held accountable...this is America for Gods Sake, you are within public housing already, can't afford the rent, meet up with your social worker and provide prove that your income just isn't enough and they will gladly give you more assistance, they not gonna put you and your see out on the street.
 
Lmaoooo @ women throwing themselves at him...stop it 5 I think all parties involved should be held accountable...this is America for Gods Sake, you are within public housing already, can't afford the rent, meet up with your social worker and provide prove that your income just isn't enough and they will gladly give you more assistance, they not gonna put you and your see out on the street.

true, but most probably don't know their options and these are the results.
 
Parts of the story are missing since we don't know who made the offers. But I would also reserve calling the women victims outright. But that is because I don't know the whole truth
I'm pretty sure they were looking at him as a john because they needed rent money. 

Lets repeat here.. Rent WAS $50 a month.. With Food Stamps and everything else GIVEN to them.. This guy had females come at him because of that. I put 100 dollars down if we knew the females names.. their facebook and IG's would be "Boss Chick" all day.
 
Pay2play in the projects
thats a big time hustle.. Look at some of the females social media profiles.. you see things like $$$. P2P.. Honey for Money.. followed by a dab of "only GOD Can Judge Me".. "Dont Judge Me" "Dont Shame Me".
 
Parts of the story are missing since we don't know who made the offers. But I would also reserve calling the women victims outright. But that is because I don't know the whole truth
in most cases.. the females will say im willing to do this for this.. they got comfy and wanted more.. and he didnt budge.. The females have to be sorry if you cant make $50 bucks for rent.. she could borrow 5 bucks from 10 dudes to make that..
 
thats a big time hustle.. Look at some of the females social media profiles.. you see things like $$$. P2P.. Honey for Money.. followed by a dab of "only GOD Can Judge Me".. "Dont Judge Me" "Dont Shame Me".
i know bro i know social media heos

in most cases.. the females will say im willing to do this for this.. they got comfy and wanted more.. and he didnt budge.. The females have to be sorry if you cant make $50 bucks for rent.. she could borrow 5 bucks from 10 dudes to make that..

yeah shes gonna "borrow" the money from 10 different dudes
lol
 
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i know bro i know social media heos
yeah shes gonna "borrow" the money from 10 different dudes
lol
she actually could.. but those who would do this really dont want to have any effort to do anything.. i mean she could do hair..even if shes just "okay" at it and afford 50 a month.. 

like i said.. this landlord had a huge return on his dollar..lol
 
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