ST. LOUIS — The Housing Authority of St. Louis County says it will no longer allow subsidized housing vouchers to be used at any apartment complexes owned by T.E.H. Realty because of the firm’s “repeated failure as landlords.â€
T.E.H., which owns about a dozen low-income housing apartment complexes in the region, has come under fire in recent years over poor living conditions.
Last spring, the housing authority said it was severing ties at five T.E.H. complexes for allegedly violating the rights of tenants and numerous failed inspections.
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Last month, Housing Authority of St. Louis County Deputy Director John Fraser told T.E.H. in a letter that the county would no longer do business with five additional T.E.H. properties for at least five years.
“This decision also includes any other entity, whether currently existing or to be formed in the future, in which any of you are an owner or partial owner,†Fraser said, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Post-Dispatch through an open records request.
The letter was addressed to T.E.H. investors Gilad Israeli, Eliram Rabin, Alain Ickovics and Michael Fein. Asked about the letter, Fein and an office administrator in Kansas City didn’t comment.
Fraser said in the letter that T.E.H. didn’t appear to do preventive maintenance at its properties.
The housing authority has reported that it paid T.E.H. Realty and its affiliates more than $1.25 million in Housing Choice Vouchers, rental subsidies also known as “Section 8,†since 2015.
“As custodians of these taxpayer dollars, we must ensure that every time we authorize payment for a unit in our program, the condition of the unit would satisfy scrutiny by a typical U.S. taxpayer,†Fraser wrote.
The remaining 20 or so tenants are supposed to be given vouchers to find new homes once their leases expire.
