USDA Elderly and Disabled Housing Abuse (Part 2), Corrupt AK USDA Rural Housing

Part 1, Part 3, Part 4,

They know, destroyed evidence or are lying about it. Isn't that a crime?

It's another who the hell do I think I am horror story which involves agency, community, statewide bullying,  severe gaslighting and destruction of documents,  something that Alaska is expert at (check here, and here).  Due to the lack of oversight at this property by the corporations and the Alaska USDA I have been given no choice but to tell this story which causes me much anger at being forced to do this. They were given years to straighten up and fly right. It is clear the USDA and these corporations are corrupt beyond belief. I have lived here for for about 4.5 years hoping the USDA, the AHFC would do something about Quantum Management and VITUS or that VITUS would maybe catch a clue and fire Quantum Management, but no because they are of the same ilk. These low income housing corporations are linked. Quantum Management is doing what VITUS wants them to do.

Last summer when the two onsite managers resigned I was ecstatic, did a happy dance and will be discussing why in the future, but due to the typical nepotism and deceptive manipulation which is SOP in Alaska that happiness and hope was crushed. The assholiness here continues and the USDA is  orchestrating a coverup. They seek to silence the voices of the disabled and elderly low income tenants, with much emphasis on me.

Senator Murkowski knows.

Senator Begich knows.

The apartments where I live are USDA Rural Housing for elderly and disabled. Over a period of years I have experienced quite a bit of abuse and so have others. It was intentionally directed at me however, not just by management, but by another resident and her family.  I know that by speaking up I will be targeted for bullying and sabotaged along with being hated, but I expect it now and considering who they are it makes me proud to be hated by them and their behavior does not shock me anymore. Go ahead and spread your negative gossip, it bounces off me like rain off a duck's back. I am however sick of all of the abuse and fraud. The hope to leave here so I was safe to tell the story is not possible and after so much time it is clear they are not going to change or make restitution.

Captain Zero knows.

This is yet another story that is very difficult to believe, corrupt and filled with tankers full of incompetence. Robert Pierson at Governor Parnell's office who was asked by myself to intervene a long time ago at first told the managers the government was paying a subsidy and I was paying rent and had some rights. Not too long after this he changed his tune. Why is that Mr. Pierson? Who contacted you, what did the onsite managers or the USDA tell you? Were there some emails and what happened to them? Who sent them? Considering all of my complaints there have to be some. 

The USDA in Alaska has been involved in a scandal in the agricultural division due to loaning money they shouldn't have. One of the recipients of that money was a former employee of the USDA who is con artisty. Sarah Palin fired the Agriculture Board and put her incompetent buddies in charge so they could scam. I have been told over and over by USDA staff that they essentially just loan money, that is their mission. They were exasperated at my attempts to get them to regulate the corporations, it just was not their job. USDA has many regulations that are impossible to access even with FOIA requests which are simply ignored. FOIA requests, no haven't seen any.

I requested information about regulations of specific subjects in a FOIA request. They claim they do not enforce the regulations and gave me the corporations can do as they please because they own the property spiel. In other words to hell with the Landlord Tenant Act, USDA regs and fuck you disabled and elderly people. The USDA has allowed the corporations to do as they please here for years while they were contacted about abuse, lack of maintenance on the property, construction abuse, incompetence and tenant fraud. Check out Andrew Halcro's blog and search for Mat Maid for more information about loans from the USDA.

Only whistleblowers are the problem for the USDA in Alaska. I have called them crying and had Cynthia Jackson laugh at me for using the wrong word because my ME/CFS and PTSD were flared up so bad my brain was not working well. It's hilarious when USDA housing residents live with such  abuse that it makes them very ill because caring about people has nothing to do with issuing loans. This was not all just the ME/CFS and PTSD, there was the head injury as a result of an unbelievable amount of abuse from three corporations including a construction company, negative gossip about myself from a neighbor which I could hear and at least one onsite manager which influenced abuse from the construction company(sources are afraid and I will never reveal them). There were also constant disruptions along with massive noise from construction and illegal threats of eviction, harassment that was on the level of criminal which caused the POTS component of the ME/CFS to flare to the point that I fell forward into my refrigerator and bashed my skull trying to right myself. This is part of the December trauma that I discussed in Part 1.

That head injury happened some time ago and I still have symptoms of post concussion syndrome, the headaches were horrible and continued until recently and the tinnitus I guess will never go away. ME/CFS symptoms include chronic migraines and other types of headaches, so the headaches secondary to this put me in horrible pain. I can't afford an MRI and the last time I had one in Alaska the doctor tried to keep me from seeing the report because his diagnosis was wrong, but mine was right. After all these issues with health care here my attitude is they are mostly useless in the rural areas unless you enjoy medical bullying and like large medical bills for incompetent services.

I mentioned lack of maintenance, let me make it very clear that was the past on site managers (there were actually two doing maintenance then), the new maintenance man who takes care of the property is A #1. He knows what he is doing and actually works his butt off. He also pays close attention to keeping the sidewalks very clear of ice as the population is elderly and disabled. He does this for two properties. This man has nothing to do with this and is the kind of worker I was use to before I came to Alaska, a person who goes to work to do his work and has pride in how it is done. You can bet they bullied him, no doubt.

Let me repeat, I sent two FOIA requests to the Alaska USDA in an attempt to get information about the tenant complaints against Quantum Management, the Alaska based construction company Criterion and the owners VITUS, emails about myself from any source and complaints from other tenants at this and other properties owned by VITUS were also requested. There were of course gossipy emails because that is how they roll here on the Kenai Peninsula and in Palmer where the USDA offices are. You betcha. I would be very surprised if libelous material was not in the emails and had been sent to the Mr. Pierson I mentioned earlier. Let me also repeat that they claim they can't find these things or any complaints from tenants.

Shortly after I made the FOIA requests the two former onsite managers resigned stating the reason was they were getting paid minimum wage (leaving out the part where they also got an apartment to live in and probably some utilities paid), which after about three years I guess started to bother them. Cynthia Jackson I am told got a promotion (of course she did). I have no idea where she is now. The person who took over Cynthia Jackson's job, Nancy Hayes told me the USDA has none of the documents I had requested. The tenant complaints were MASSIVE! Then she tried to change the subject by asking me about applying for a loan to which I replied that I am on Social Security and had no income for seven months which of course resulted in bad credit so who the hell would give me a loan? I considered that this might be some kind of bribe. I have asked Nancy Hayes by email this:

I am wondering if you are sticking to the story that the USDA has no complaints from any of the tenants here. If so, that indicates wrong doing on the part of a USDA employee, perhaps Cynthia who not too long after she disappeared my FOIA requests got herself transferred, then the managers here suddenly decided to leave. 

I got no response. Calls to the office of  the director of Alaska USDA for years have been ignored,  that includes the current Director Jim Nordlund.  This is standard operating for many agencies in Alaska even the federal ones. Deborah Davis who I have also told the stories about this place likes to say the USDA just does loans and doesn't police the corporations too. I think they put some kind of microchip in their brains. Dehorah Davis did you see my FOIA requests, emails or the complaints of the tenants here and at VITUS's other properties?

The claim of a lack of tenant complaints is disproved by the below document they mention receiving "numerous letters concerning the ongoing construction and the proposed rental increase", (more about those rental increases later) they have periodically raised the amount of the subsidy in spite of incompetence, abuse and wasting of the money they were loaned on an inept construction company. Apparently they don't count the multiple phone calls they received about the problems.

Let me mention the USDA in Alaska is located in Palmer and the construction company has a branch in Wasilla, Hmmmm. VITUS and Quantum Management are in Washington state and I am just guessing here, but may have asked the USDA or someone in Alaska government for a competent and honest construction company they could use for their Alaska properties. It could have also been that lowest bidder, incompetence Alaskan construction thing. Welcome to Alaska. Then there is this part of the document:

We understand there have been many issues with the construction /rehabilitation right from the beginning. The gentlemen that came to Laurawood and made promised that were not ultimately kept are no longer wit[sic] the company that purchased the property. That may not be compensation for your inconveniences but it may comfort you to know that the owmers[sic] of the property recognized that errors were being made and moved quickly to rectify those errors. Today there are new leaders at VITUS who are working to resolve the issues with the contractor and with the new management company.  USDA is monitoring both to ensure that Laurawood is being constructed and managed as per the regulations. I have no idea what they mean by new management company, it is the same one. The above was an intentional con job perpetrated on vulnerable people by corporations that are fleecing the tax payers with the help of the USDA (more about that later as I might as well go full whistleblower ).

"USDA is monitoring both to ensure that Laurawood is being constructed and managed as per the regulations." 

But wait, I thought the corporations could do as they please and you had nothing to do with enforcing regulations, you simply issue loans. I'm all confused and shit.

All the staff at the USDA just lie their asses off. The only truth here is that there were problems from the beginning, but Quantum Management and VITUS did nothing, ignored us and were abusive. The onsite managers who they mention at the end of the letter went on a two week vacation during a critical stage of the construction leaving their son in charge who blew cigarette smoke in my face one day when I was upset and crying. He was not an employee of Quantum Management at that time as far as I know, when confronted his mother would say he was an independent contractor, I just laughed and laughed and shook my head. That is so Alaskan of her. There are other reasons why the onsite managers were not what the USDA said they were and I will be discussing this later.

Please repeat the USDA Rural Housing Mantra with me: Corporations can do whatever they want they own the property and we just loan money. Are you convinced or do you think they only tell certain people that poppycock? The rent increase is an old value, it is much higher now than this raise in 2011 (more on that later). They approve all of their requests no matter how much the tenants protest.

VITUS did not move quickly to rectify the errors as this letter says. Problems with onsite management were never addressed as well as lack of maintenance of the property. In other words they did not take care of maintenance and nothing was done about that. The construction was not completed and the fact that I was targeted for bullying by the construction company (Wasilla) and the onsite managers and a neighbor/her family was not addressed. There was lip service, BS, manipulation, lies but mostly crickets.

They lied to us big time when they wanted to buy the property to manipulate the tenants so no research would be done on them. When we finally did start checking we found out the management company had big problems. Most of that negative stuff has been wiped from the internet now, really I was expecting them to change their name like corporations with bad reps do. I will be discussing those lies later.

There was a Rebecca who promised to pay for the damage to my garden, Cynthia Jackson at the USDA told me Rebecca told her they were paying for it as well. They lied and did not pay for it. I have not touched it since that summer, that patch of ground is completely dead, a total FUBAR along with the other little garden I was taking care of.  Why would I take care of it, what is the point, they ruin everything. It appears Rebecca who was a nasty piece of work is an employee of VITUS. The damage was never paid for, LIARS.

They know many times over, but remember they let hundreds die in the past.

I of course out of anyone would have the courage to complain, but was targeted by many including the on site managers whose names I have redacted. If you knew the whole story you would say they don't deserve that favor. Yes they were working for a corrupt corporation but they were part of the problem and still are. So, this story I will tell because it may help others and may cause some who intentionally harmed others for

In Alaska? I'm not that imaginative.

advancement or greed to be looked at with the reality of who they actually are. It also sheds light on the lack of oversight and protection of seniors and the disabled or even just for tenants who need agencies such as health departments that are non-existent here. Adult protective services has no offices in the rural areas and are quick to say they will fly someone in if it is important, that means most of the problems are ignored.