HUD cracks down on Cleveland-based Millennia Housing Management following an explosion and poor conditions

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Millennia Housing Management has been barred from receiving new federal housing contracts following a slew of controversy.

Millennia, which is headquartered in Key Tower in downtown Cleveland, manages over 275 multifamily residential communities, including affordable, market-rate and senior living, according to the company website. Its local properties include 12000 Edgewater, 75 Public Square and Alexia Manor on Hector Avenue.

Millennia properties are located across 26 states, and apartments in its federal housing choice voucher program program have been the subject of claims of poor living conditions, high crime rates, gas leaks and a deadly explosion.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sent cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer a statement noting that it is debarring Millennia and its CEO Frank T. Sinito, which would prohibit entering into new business with any federal government agencies, including HUD for five years.

HUD would not specify when it began steps toward authorizing the debarment, but accused Millennia of financial mismanagement of tenant security deposit accounts and taxpayer funds that provide housing assistance, along with not maintaining property conditions .

“We are committed to ensuring that people living in HUD-assisted housing have safe, decent homes and that our property owners manage assets responsibly in accordance with our rules,” Ethan Handelman, deputy assistant secretary for multifamily housing programs, Office of Housing said in a statement. “As a result, HUD is holding them accountable by demanding repayment of misappropriated funds and seeking to impose civil money penalties on those responsible.”

HUD added that it will continue to monitor Millennia to make sure that it addressed the areas of noncompliance and noted that current residents would not be affected.

In September, tenants of Millennia’s Shorter College Garden Apartments in North Little Rock, Arkansas, filed a class action lawsuit seeking a minimum of $860 million in damages and $4.3 million in punitive damages. The suit comes after a 2022 explosion killed three people.

According to KARK, tenants claimed Millennia knowingly led tenants to believe the building was safe while there was a gas leak. They also said they had complained about the living conditions here as well and reported the smell of gas and carbon monoxide, along with complaints of mold, bed bugs and rodent infestations.

In December, residents of Serenity Towers, Hope Heights and Memphis Towers in Memphis formed a tenant union following complaints from residents of these apartments of broken elevators, inconsistent heating and cooling. According to Fox 13 in Memphis, they also claimed they faced eviction threats when they retaliated by forming a tenant union.

Recently, contractors in Utica, New York , claimed that Millennia had not paid thousands of dollars to its local contractors for maintenance. WKTV reported that the company had also nearly missed paying a six-figure bill to the Mohawk Valley Water Authority.

This month, the city of Atlanta began demolishing Forest Cove Apartments, a complex Millennia manages on Atlanta’s southeast side.

Mayor Andre Dickens told Fox 5: “We are putting on notice any landlord, any bad operator in the city of Atlanta that we mean business.”

Dickens was not available for comment.

A number for Millennia and its media contact rang until the line hung up with no way to leave a voicemail. An email to a media contact has has gone unanswered since Friday.

Millennia Housing Management is one part of Millennia Companies, which was founded in 1995 by Sinito. Millennia also owns Millennia Commercial Group, which manages Key Center Complex, Oatey World Headquarters near Fairview Park among others. It formerly managed Eaton U.S. headquarters in Beachwood until 2021.

A previous version of this story incorrectly said Millennia currently managed the Eaton property.