Brian O\u2019Shea has made his City Heights apartment a home. A large Chargers flag covers its main wall. Framed scriptures remind him of the strength he mustered several years back to kick his drinking habit.\u00a0Cowboy hats hang on the wall like plaques, commemorating his time as a bull rider at local rodeos.<\/p>\n

But the apartment he rents with assistance from the federal government\u2019s\u00a0Section 8<\/a>\u00a0program wasn\u2019t\u00a0a\u00a0haven when he moved in last August. He found roaches, a gas leak, a busted oven and a lukewarm refrigerator in the unit.<\/p>\n

The building is managed by Bankim Shah, a San Diego landlord who owns dozens of apartments and\u00a0has a number of housing code complaints against them<\/a>. In 2014, Shah received $507,621 from the Section 8 program, which subsidizes rent for low-income tenants. That money came despite city documents that show he\u2019s been flagged for renting units state law would deem uninhabitable.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0San Diego Housing Commission<\/a> \u00a0administers the Section 8 program locally, entering into contracts with landlords to pay a portion of a tenant\u2019s rent. O\u2019Shea can pay about $400 a month, so the Housing Commission sends the owner of his building about $700 in public funds per month.<\/p>\n

The commission doesn\u2019t do background checks on landlords it enters into contracts with. In the case of O\u2019Shea, the commission\u2019s system for protecting tenants from unsafe and undignified living conditions failed. A\u00a0Housing Commission inspection form says O\u2019Shea\u2019s apartment passed with flying colors before he moved in despite failing to meet\u00a0standards<\/a>\u00a0laid out by the federal government for Section 8 rentals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Section 8 housing, it should be all regulated,\u201d said O\u2019Shea, who\u2019s on a fixed income because he\u2019s disabled. \u201cThere\u2019s supposed to be rights for us to have \u2013 to be taken care of and not have to go through all the stress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Azucena Valladolid manages San Diego\u2019s Section 8 program at the Housing Commission. She said the agency does initial inspections to approve a unit and then biannual and surprise inspections to make sure it remains in good shape.<\/p>\n

Valladolid didn\u2019t comment on how O\u2019Shea\u2019s apartment made it past the first inspection, but said the Housing Commission acted quickly and appropriately when O\u2019Shea complained about his living conditions.<\/p>\n