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Living in limbo.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Susan Palmer The Register-Guard

For the past 21 months, Oregon Housing and Community Services politely requested and then sternly demanded that a Eugene landlord comply with federal housing regulations at an apartment complex where the government helps pay the rent for low-income elderly tenants.

When landlord Max Liebreich failed to satisfy the state's demands, they withheld his September subsidy for Country Club Manor, an apartment building housing 20 senior citizens. In response Liebreich demanded full-market rents from his residents and threatened those who couldn't pay with eviction.

Since lawyers representing both sides got involved this month, the concern that tenants might be evicted has eased, but Liebreich, who co-owns the building with his brother Howard, has yet to sign a settlement agreeing to bring the complex into compliance with U.S. Housing and Urban Development rules.

State officials say negotiations over the language of the settlement are continuing.

The ultimate sanction - canceling his contract - is unlikely because it could leave the Country Club residents without a home and unable to find new ones.

The demand for subsidized housing in Oregon exceeds the supply. There are long waiting lists of people who qualify but can't get into apartments. And the long-term outlook for such housing isn't good. Many contracts between HUD and landlords will expire in the coming years, leaving low-income tenants even fewer options.

"We're barely keeping up at all with the need," said Bob Gillespie, housing division administrator with Oregon Housing and Community Services, the state agency that oversees affordable housing and manages contracts...

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