Landlords are gaming the system

Landlords are gaming the system

Monday’s letter, “A bad time to pick on landlords,” is really a laugh. They are crying all the way to the bank. If it wasn’t profitable to be a landlord, they would be in a different business. Now the city wants to make them accountable and they cry foul. It’s about time there was a crackdown on these “slumlords.”

Having lived in the inner city of Youngstown for over 15 years I have seen their tactics. They fix up a house and then rent it to people who don’t work and who do all sorts of illegal things. Then, since the tenants are on Section 8, the government pays the rent directly to the landlord.

The Bible says that if a man doesn’t work he shouldn’t even eat, never mind have a place to stay. The women are having multiple children from different men who are not held accountable for their actions. The landlords know all this and then rent to people who cause all sorts of havoc in the community.

Now I know that some landlords are honorable and some tenants are struggling to change their lives and deal with their mistakes. Kudos to them and may the Lord help them to be good citizens and respectful neighbors. But their needs to be an inspection of all landlords and all of the tenants that reside in their housing.

A landlord has repaired the house next to me many, many times and sometimes to the same tenant over the years. He says that he only repairs a house two or three times and then has to get rid of it. He owns over a thousand houses in the city and says that he wants good tenants, but if you inspect his houses and the people who live there you will see that his good intentions are not backed by wisdom and the results he obtains.

The powers that be need to make men responsible for their children and the support of them if they don’t stay with the mothers. Men need to work and pay their bills, included their rent. If they have to work more then one job, so be it, this country was built on people carrying their own weight.

The mayor has done a great job over the years and has facilitated the demolition of over 1,000 houses. There are community and church groups who are trying to rehab houses and beautify communities. Now the landlords have to do their part and clean up their acts and be part of the solution instead of the problem.

LEO FEHER, Youngstown