CORNING, N.Y. -- Chris Reed has to pay Meadowbrook Apartments $6,399.60 in back rent to avoid eviction. Reed hasn't paid rent since January, but he claims there's a good reason why.
"We were told about it right here at the office by our landlord that they had some Section 8 help that we could get," he said.
Reed was accepted into the Section 8 program in January and received his voucher. He says he was told not to pay rent until the voucher went through. It never did.
"Just now, in the fall, they're saying your vouchers expired and you owe us all this back money now," Reed said.
Reed said the voucher expired because his apartment didn't meet the minimum standards at inspection.
"Broken windows, couple out back too," he explained. "Broken screens have to be fixed, and our screen has a huge hole in it."
Reed waited for issues to be fixed to get the apartment eligible for assistance, but help never came.
Arbor Housing and Development owns the apartments. Officials didn't comment on specific cases, but said when tenants sign, they need to pay the rent.
"When they sign a lease, they know what they're signing, they know the condition of the property," Arbor president Jeffrey Eaton said. "We're addressing health and safety issues. They're not the best apartments, we understand that, but we're certainly not going to put folks that's not meeting the basic health and safety needs of those apartments."
Arbor officials also explained that it's a choice where somebody lives, but Reed said for low-income residents in Corning, choices are slim, and slimmer if you're evicted.
"Other Section 8s are off-limits to you, and if you're poor, you've got nowhere else to turn," he said.
Not all residents had the same situation as Reed, some were simply behind on rent. Those served eviction notices appeared in court Wednesday.
Reed said he's hired a lawyer and will return to court next week.