Bradbury Says He’ll Donate Rent Subsidies

VENTURA — Confronted by a growing controversy over taking $639 monthly in federal housing funds to rent a house to his mother on his Ojai ranch, Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury announced Monday that he has decided to give the money to charity.

But he said his mother will continue to receive federal subsidies and defended her right to remain a recipient of low-income housing funds.

Bradbury’s announcement came one day after an article in The Times disclosed that he has been receiving taxpayer subsidies as a landlord to his mother, Marie, who is enrolled in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 8 voucher program.

“I believe she has the right to receive the subsidy,” Bradbury said. “If I die tomorrow, what would happen to her? She’s the one that has the right [to the benefits]. I think that right should be protected.”

Bradbury said his 77-year-old mother is unaware of the recent publicity over their involvement in the subsidy program.

“She doesn’t know anything about this,” he said. “I believe if she did, it would be harmful to her health.”

Still, Bradbury said he believes that there are people in the county who may be in more immediate need of assistance, referring to the roughly 6,900 people on waiting lists to get into the Section 8 housing program.

“The bottom line is I think there is merit to what has been said,” said Bradbury, who earns a yearly salary of $131,804. “In order to protect the rights of my mother, I have decided to make a monetary contribution to help other people in need.”

The district attorney said he plans to make a $639-a-month charitable donation that would be split among several Ventura County nonprofit organizations that assist people in securing affordable housing.

About $200 a month will be donated to Thousand Oaks-based Many Mansions, said Otto Stoll, co-chairman of the organization’s board of directors.

“Through our Adopt-a-Family program, we supplement rent for about 45 families in the Conejo Valley,” said Stoll, who talked with Bradbury by phone Monday about his gift. “We will probably be able to add several more as a result of this donation, and that’s just great.”

Bradbury said another group he plans to contribute to is Conejo Valley Senior Concerns, an organization that provides housing and other assistance to the elderly. A representative could not be reached for comment Monday.

Asked whether they consider Bradbury’s decision to give the HUD rent payments to charity appropriate, HUD officials in Washington declined comment Monday afternoon.

Earlier, Bradbury’s receipt of the rent subsidies had drawn the attention of U.S. Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo, who told The Times that he may further tighten new regulations set to take effect next month to prevent “high-income landlords” from renting to relatives in the Section 8 program. As part of his review, Cuomo said HUD would establish guidelines defining “high-income.”

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Asked if he thinks he falls into the category of “high-income” referred to by Cuomo, Bradbury said, “I have no idea.”

Bradbury’s mother has lived since July 1995 in a manufactured house on her son’s Hang ‘Em High ranch, assessed last year at $558,000. The dwelling sits next to Bradbury’s five-bedroom, 4,000-square-foot main house.

Bradbury has said that the federal subsidy is not important to him and that it would not bother him if it went away. But he said the money makes his mother feel that she is not being a burden on his family.

Bradbury said he knew little of how the Section 8 program worked until now, noting that his mother has been receiving assistance for more than 20 years, long before she began renting from him in 1995.

“I’ve learned more about Section 8 in the last two days than I ever wanted to know,” he said, adding “that was tongue-in-cheek.”

But the district attorney said he believes he has been unfairly singled out on the issue.

“It’s no fun being the poster boy for someone’s agenda for social change,” he said.

Bradbury’s decision Monday came as Doug Tapking, executive director of the Ventura County Area Housing Authority, promised an investigation into how area housing records came to the attention of The Times. Tapking said housing officials did not authorize any public release of confidential records.

Also on Monday, Tapking said he began his own review of how many people besides the district attorney collected rent from relatives on Section 8.

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He found that 3%, or approximately 60 out of 2,000 landlords, are renting to relatives in the area covered by the housing authority. That area includes the cities of Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Ojai, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley.

Other housing authority administrators from Ventura, Oxnard, Santa Paula and Port Hueneme said they are uncertain how frequently the practice occurs.

Most said it is also unclear whether further tightening of housing regulations--the proposal being considered by Cuomo--would free up any vouchers for those considered truly needy.

“This would not free up vouchers,” Tapking said. “If they’re not going to rent from their family, they’re going to rent from somebody else.”

But Sal Gonzalez, executive director of the Oxnard Housing Authority, says tightening regulations would free vouchers for those who truly need them.

“I have no problem with the regulations focusing in on those that can certainly afford to be able to take care of family members,” Gonzalez said. “Overall, it’s a step in the right direction. I just get leery when the federal government steps in with [bans] that we as local agencies ought to have enough discretion to make sure doesn’t happen anyways.”

Bradbury’s move to keep his mother on HUD funds while giving the actual rent subsidies to charity came as others waiting for HUD assistance expressed outrage that the district attorney was ever involved in the program.

“It makes me sick,” said Joyce Burgess, 39, of Oxnard. “It’s disgusting.”

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Burgess, who lives with her 17-year-old daughter and infant granddaughter, has been on the Section 8 waiting list for six years. She receives $641 per month from a state disability check.

Angela Lerma, 28, who shares a one-room house in Oxnard with her father and her 8-year-old son, Adrian, said she has been on the Section 8 waiting list for eight years.

“I keep applying and they keep giving me the runaround,” said Lerma, who earns between $12,000 and $13,000 a year. “I don’t think this system is very fair. If you have a job and you’re a single mom, they should give you that kind of help so that you can set up a good foundation.”

Lerma, a clerk at the Donna Karen outlet store in Camarillo, lives in the La Colonia neighborhood.

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She and her son sleep on two fold-out couches in the small living room while her father sleeps in the cramped bedroom.

“We don’t have a lot of privacy,” she said. “I call every month, and they’ve told me not to bother.”

Lerma resents that recipients who are not even trying to work, and others who can rent rooms from affluent relatives, are able to get Section 8 housing, and she can’t.

“I don’t think that’s right,” she said. “But maybe some attention to the problem will help. Maybe something will change.”

Dawn Hobbs is a correspondent and Carlos V. Lozano is a staff writer. Staff writers Scott Hadly and Kate Folmar also contributed to this story.