During a hearing on Thursday on oversight of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) inspection process, Senator Bob Corker, a member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development, expressed the need for improved oversight of federally subsidized housing properties and thanked Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fl.) for highlighting the problem of neglectful landlords at HUD-subsidized facilities, including some owned by the Cordova, Tn.-based Global Ministries Foundation (GMF).
“As a private citizen, I led a very large effort to try to make sure that Chattanoogans had decent, fit and affordable housing, and I’ve seen some of the deplorable conditions that people live in,” said Sen.
Corker. “Thank you so much for bringing this to the nation’s attention and hopefully helping us provide a much better solution for oversight. Some of these landlords, some of them are obviously good, but so many of them are just total absentee and have no regard for the people who live in these various facilities. Obviously, that has to change.”
GMF has faced widespread scrutiny for poor and unsafe living conditions at two of its federally subsidized housing properties in Memphis, as well as other properties across the country. HUD has discontinued federal rent subsidies for the properties and a U.S. district court recently stripped GMF of control of the apartments.