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Here are key things to know about the rental assistance investigation:
Freedom for Living Property Management was paid $410,568 through a federal CARES Act program created by Montgomery County to help people stay in their homes amid the devastating recession last year.
Eleven renters in properties that received aid said they received government rental assistance from programs such as Section 8 housing vouchers at the same time the county program paid rent, meaning the company possibly received double payments from federal programs. Six applications listed tenants who don’t live at those units or who moved in months after the landlord claimed they stopped paying their rent. Four tenants said they paid their full rent themselves for the same months Freedom for Living got assistance.
Freedom for Living is controlled by Antoine and Alicia Draines, according to business records. Company officials declined to answer questions from the Dayton Daily News. “We don’t want to make a comment,” Alicia Draines said when reached by phone.
Greater Dayton Premier Management, the local public housing authority, removed the property management company and its affiliates from the Section 8 program after finding suspected fraud.
GDPM officials, citing federal privacy laws, would not confirm whether specific properties listed as receiving CARES Act help also got Section 8 vouchers.
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