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Kicked out of public housing, the tenant rented a house from a private landlord. The landlord kicked the tenant out for non-payment.

So the tenant rented another house. And another. And another. Four times in six months, the same tenant was evicted.

"If any one of them had done a background check, they could have avoided that," said Diane Raible, deputy executive director of the McKeesport Housing Authority.

During an informational session Wednesday night at the Palisades ballroom, Downtown, local officials and MHA representatives said landlords need to take responsibility for their tenants, or face increased pressure from police and code-enforcement officers. About 50 people, including two city council members, attended.

Rental properties are an acute concern right now in McKeesport, Mayor Michael Cherepko told the crowd, because about half of all city housing units are rentals.

"We realize that this is your livelihood," Cherepko said. "We're not asking you to turn your rental properties into mansions. We are asking you to make sure they're not eyesores."

. . .

But Cherepko, a former schoolteacher, said Wednesday's session reminded him of a parent-teacher conference. Neglectful parents don't attend those conferences, he said, and neglectful landlords don't attend informational workshops.

Absentee landlords are a big concern for city officials. State Sen. Jim Brewster, McKeesport Democrat, who chairs the city Housing Authority board, noted that many people have bought houses sight unseen on Internet auctions and are using them as "investment properties" with little regard for the surrounding neighborhoods.

Brewster, a former mayor, recalled a house in the upper 10th Ward that was purchased for a few thousand dollars on an Internet auction by a Washington state truck driver who let the house sit vacant and abandoned for years without ever seeing it, until it was torn down at taxpayers' expense. "We have people from the U.K., Canada and other countries who have bought properties off of the Internet," Brewster said. "I'm sure the people who came here tonight are not the problem."

. . .

About 450 units --- apartments and single-family homes --- in McKeesport are rented with so-called "Section 8" vouchers, Brewster said. The program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provides federal rent subsidies to low-income families.

In total, McKeesport has about 900 public housing units, he said. The number has actually dropped from a high of 1,200.

About half of all people in public housing in McKeesport are senior citizens, Brewster said.

"We have cleaned up, we think, public housing," Brewster said. "It's not this organization of filth and crime and bad people. For all of those people who might think that there's a big problem out there in public housing, it's not true. We think we have a good story to tell, and we're very happy with what we've done in the past 15 years with public housing."

. . .

Housing Authority officials and others said that Section 8 vouchers can be revoked --- and are --- from tenants who trash rental properties, or use them for criminal activities. But private landlords need to monitor their properties and make sure they're not renting to problem tenants, Raible said.

Joan Trasp, tenant selection supervisor for the Housing Authority, said that background checks can be performed using online resources such as the Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System website, the Megan's Law registry of sex offenders and local magistrates' dockets.

Private companies can do credit checks, Trasp said.

Whatever method is used, the background checks need to be done fairly, uniformly, and without bias, she said.

. . .

The city's fair housing officer, Angelia Christina, stressed the need for fair and unbiased dealings with tenants at every stage, starting with the ads listing properties for rent. Even language that seems innocent, such as "suitable for single person," can be discriminatory.

The Fair Housing Act of 1968 bars landlords from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national original, sex, religion and disability, and also bars landlords from discriminating against parents of small children.

"It's all very complicated," Christina said. "If you have a business, you should also have an attorney whom you can talk to," adding that landlords should be prepared to keep "very good records" of their conversations with tenants. "If they make a special request of you, get that request in writing," she said.

. . .

Having a written rental contract, and good written records, is a landlord's best protection, said Eugene Riazzi, city magisterial district judge, who adjudicates landlord-tenant disputes. "If you have it down in black and white, you can't dispute it," he said.

Riazzi urged landlords to familarize themselves with their tenants' rights, and also with city ordinances governing loud noise, weeds, rubbish and property maintenance. Fines for violating city ordinances can be levied daily and quickly mount to thousands of dollars, he said.

Others speaking last night included city police Chief Bryan Washowich; Sharon Sanetsky-Kish, MHA Section 8 coordinator; and lead-based paint safety instructor Norm Koehler. Panelists stayed after the workshop to answer questions from landlords on a one-on-one basis.

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