Housing Authority discusses eviction hearings at meeting

At Tuesday night’s Ville Platte Housing Authority board meeting, the topic of conversation centered around how to inform tenants of the actions they can take if being threatened with eviction.
This discussion came about after Arthur Sampson, who was helping a resident at the housing authority who was on the verge of being evicted, requested that the board inform him of their eviction procedures.
Sampson said, “I just want to know what’s the proper procedure before a tenant gets evicted, because my understanding is that they are suppose to have a fair hearing with the board before it gets to court.”
This led the board to ask VP Housing Authority Executive Director Grant Soileau and employee Fonda Lartigue if tenants are being notified of their rights if they are going to be evicted.
Lartigue said, “It is in the newsletter every month. It says that rent is to be paid by the fifth, late fees come out on the sixth, and on the top part it says if your rent is not paid by the 10th, court procedures begin on the 11th. Every newsletter has it, every month.”
Board member Grace Sibley then asked, “I believe that, I’m just asking if they know that they can come and ask for a hearing?”
Soileau said “yes” that the tenants do know, but Lartigue confirmed that tenants are only told about the fair hearing with the board when they first move in.
For Sibley, just telling the tenants about it isn’t enough, so she made a request that will hopefully allow tenants to know their rights.
Sibley said, “When you move in you are reminded of so many things that it makes it easy to forget, so I am thinking on the forms we could have something in bold letters to the affect of ‘if you have questions or concerns and would like a hearing, it is your right.’ I just think they need to know that.”
No action regarding Sibley’s request was made.