Section 8 Questions

I have been getting some questions on Section 8 housing recently. So I thought I would address some of the questions here.

Section 8 housing is run by the Federal government by HUD (Housing and Urban Development Department). Locally the program is administered by the Lake County Housing Authority in Grayslake. The poor local housing environment has led to a growing number of homes being rented out and of course some of them are rented with the Section 8 rental program.

If you own a home and have to rent it, the program makes sense becuase the government is paying the rent on time and regularly. Where it becomes tricky is when the new tenants have less invested in the community then the home owners who live around them.

What I would encourage homeowners who are having legitimate issues with "any of their neighbors" is to contact the village. While we are unable to go into a house without being invited (not likely) we can bring pressure to bear with parking enforcement, property maintenance issues that are not being addressed. Contact the Building Department using this link. (An email will pop up). Code enforcement of parking, mowing, and general cleanliness can be very powerful towards fixing these types of issues.

If there is a loud party or something going on that is not appropriate call the Police, this is how you do it... Dial 911. I can't tell you how many times in the last 7 years someone has told me that such and such a house is doing such and such a thing, and I say did you call 911 and the answer is always as follows:

1. I did and they never come.
   
2. I don't want to be identified
3. I don't want to bother them.

When I hear excuse number 1, I think BS and then write the address down and find out if it's true, and of course it never is. With item 2 you do not have to be identified, and of course number 3 is why would you not want the police to do their job? Trust me the village spends a lot of money on training and equipment so we want them out using it!

What am I telling you? Please let the village know when we have a problem developing, I pride the village staff on being proactive and I prod them to be more proactive constantly, but we can't do and see everything, nor can we recognize every issue, so please let us know, if we can help we will.