Cumberland Housing - River Bend Court

Cumberland Housing - River Bend Court This is a page about River Bend Court in Cumberland Maryland

06/23/2026

The story of James (Jim) Gilbert Brown;

Jim (as he was called) lived at Fort Cumberland Homes before it became River Bend Court. According to him, he was told he had to move to the JFK building. They planned a total gutting of the old apartment at Fort Cumberland. They actually charged the old man for repairs of his unit at Fort Cumberland, even though they are remodeling the entire development. When I questioned them, they said, well he didn't object to paying. If you think that's fugged up, it get's better, much better.

Jim's rent was on auto pay from his bank account. That will be important in a few minutes.

In January of 2024, I went to the store and ATM for him. Less than an hour after I left his apartment, he had some kind of medical episode and went to the hospital. A few days later, he ended up in a nursing home. Then the first week of February he died in the nursing home.

Housing continued withdrawing his rent by auto pay from his bank account.

His rent was $235 per month, and through HUD the balance was paid. There is what the government calls fair market rent. Example; If you pay $500 in rent, but the fair market rent is $1,000, HUD pays the other $500. Now, if the apartment is vacant, housing only get's a small portion of the fair market rent from HUD. But, as long as housing does not take possession of the unit, they get the full subsidy from HUD. I was on his paperwork as authorized to enter his apartment, but housing said I would have to authorized to enter upon his death. He died February 7th, 2024, housing continued collecting his rent plus the HUD subsidy. His sister who lied out of the state was the only person who was authorized to go in upon his death. She contacted housing, told them Jim died, and she didn't want anything to do with the contents on his unit, but housing ignored taking possession for at least three months. They could have taken possession of his apartment within a few days after he died. If they had done that, it would take them a few months to get his apartment ready for a new tenant, plus they were at the beginning stages of remodeling the entire building, and the HUD subsidy wouldn't have been as much.

When you sign a lease with housing, they present you with this form. They are asking for a blanket release of your infor...
06/21/2026

When you sign a lease with housing, they present you with this form. They are asking for a blanket release of your information with the agencies listed. They include this with the required HUD documents, implying it is part of the required forms you must fill out. You do not have to sign this form, as it's only something housings wants, not requires. Look at the agencies on the form, then ask yourself, REALLY?

How many of you knew there is a Tenants Bill of Rights? Cumberland Housing does have a link to it on their website under...
06/17/2026

How many of you knew there is a Tenants Bill of Rights? Cumberland Housing does have a link to it on their website under the Public Housing link, however, they do not have it under their MultiFamily Housing link. The thing is, the tenant bill of rights applies to all landlords/tenants including government and private housing. If you're a landlord with tenants, you are bound by this. I've included pictures of a couple excerpts from the tenant bill of rights. I will also provide commentary in each picture.

https://dhcd.maryland.gov/Tenant-Landlord-Affairs/Documents/Tenant-Bill-of-Rights-V2.pdf

This one is a hoot..... Housing wants tenants to conserve electricity, but themselves waste enough that could literally ...
06/08/2026

This one is a hoot.....

Housing wants tenants to conserve electricity, but themselves waste enough that could literally pay my electric bill monthly. When River bend Court was being remodeled, housing stated they were going to have the front porch lights on a house meter and they'd be responsible for the lighting on the front porches. Their reasoning was, they could not trust the tenants to turn them off during the day and back on at night.

Well, apparently neither can housing be trusted to do so. When River Bend Court came online, housing had dusk to dawn sensors on each building, and that worked pretty well. Then all of a sudden they switched it and set the outside lighting to come on at a set time, and go off at a set time. Well, that isn't working too well either, because the outside lights begin coming on two hours or more prior to dusk, and stay on for an hour or more after dawn. And they say we tenants can't be trusted to turn the lights off, LOL.

06/07/2026

Part Two of the Video Recording policy:

Housing is relying on the Maryland wiretap statute for the video recording policy/rule. First off, the title "Video Recording" is misleading, because in the verbiage they do not mention video recording other than the title, they only mention audio recording. During subsequent conversations with management, they indicated they were clearly talking about audio and video recording. Maryland is a two party state, meaning you need consent from all involved to audio record a private/secret conversation. If you are in public, and several other people not party to the conversation and can be heard by the general public, it is no longer private or secret. There are other exceptions and implied consent rules. They cite Maryland wiretap statute 10-401 as the basis for the policy. I invited manage Kyra to my unit so I could demonstrate in fact if I muted my cameras while video recording they do not pick up audio. During our meeting on April 21st. 2023, manager Kyra confirmed that my cameras do not pick up audio if muted. I then asked the CEO who gave them that information and advice, she replied it came from their attorney.

The law says, you can video record inside your house in areas where there is no expectation of privacy. The way it is said in the law, is you cannot video record in areas where someone may disrobe, in other words, get naked. So I asked the CEO how many times have they sent maintenance to a tenants unit to work naked.

Government is always watching/recording us, but the moment we watch/record them, they have a problem with it.

This is going to be a two part post;Part one: Prior to the enactment of the video recording policy/rule, housing was (an...
06/07/2026

This is going to be a two part post;

Part one: Prior to the enactment of the video recording policy/rule, housing was (and may still be) recording calls made by tenants to their offices. I learned this from Krys the middle manager. There was a situation with a unit that had extensive damage caused by a tenant prior to them moving out. Maintenance was neglecting the trash can close to my unit, so I called the maintenance office to see if they were going to empty the can, and offered to empty it myself if they gave me a bag. The guy in the office went on a rant, calling tenants scum, trash and several other vile names. I brought this to Kry's attention, she encouraged me to come in and file a written complaint. I met with her, and two other managers. After filling out the form, I questioned whether or not it was really worth it, because it would be his word against mine. She then replied, they will know exactly what was said when they listen to the call. Realizing she made a slip of the tongue, she hurried up and changed the subject. I just acted like I didn't catch it and didn't mention it again to her. I had been trying to get answers to a few questions on other matters related to the recording policy and how they were developed and the process. After several attempts, I decided to send the CEO Michele Bender a certified restricted letter requesting a meeting on the matter. The CEO, and managers Krys and Kyra met with me on April 21st, 2023. During this meeting I asked if they were still recording calls, the CEO denied calls were being recorded. I mentioned that I learned about the recording of calls from Krys, to which she replied, "I was only kidding". Take note, she did not deny saying that, she merely said she was kidding. Sounds like an admission to me. The tenant that caused damage to their unit were threatened with criminal charges and jail if they did not vacate their unit right away. The manager (Krys) Knowing the damage caused did not rise to the level of criminal charges, and they would have to go through the proper eviction process, the manager (Krys) asked me if the tenant had talked to me, then she asked me not to tell them anything, because they needed to do whatever they can to get rid of these people, saying they did not want to have to go through the whole eviction process. I just figured, not my circus, not my monkey.

Part Two coming in the next posting.......

Let's talk about the Board of Commissioners for Cumberland Housing. The Board is made up of five members, one of whom is...
06/04/2026

Let's talk about the Board of Commissioners for Cumberland Housing. The Board is made up of five members, one of whom is a housing tenant. (listed below). The way they are supposed to be chosen/appointed is, the Cumberland housing Group sends a list of nominees to the City, and they are then voted on by the Mayor and Council. However, the way it is actually done is, the Cumberland housing Group decides who they want on the Board of Commissioners, then sends the list to the city, and the list is rubber stamped and approved. The function of the Board of Commissioners for housing is, when Housing want's to change something, whether that is in the lease, rules, or other things related to housing, they present them to the board, then puts it out for a 30 day public comment process, and the board meets and votes on the changes. However (again) the Board of Commissioners are merely YES members for Housing. In their existence, the Board of Commissioners have never voted down any changes Housing proposed, even with public comments in opposition to the changes.

The Board of Commissioners meet the third Wednesday of every other month at 12:30pm. If there is no business to discuss, the meeting is canceled. The meetings are open to the public and subject to the sunshine and open meetings laws. The Cumberland Housing Group is supposed to post the meeting days and times in their office on the board to make the public aware. However, they have never been posted, nor has Housing informed the public or tenants of these meetings. I discovered this by chance when I was browsing the Cumberland City website one day, then I did some research. The fact that housing fails to inform the tenants/public of this, makes transparency seem like a forbidden term.

In the next entry, we will talk about CHG's rules on Video Recording:

We're going to play a game, now you don't really have to play/respond, but feel free to do so if you wish.Looking at eac...
05/31/2026

We're going to play a game, now you don't really have to play/respond, but feel free to do so if you wish.

Looking at each picture, see if you can find the problem. See if you can find the illogical irony. I will post on each picture the problem management has with each, but I will let you point out the illogcial irony. One of these pictures defies all logic.

05/29/2026

Well, they have cut grass here at RBC more over the last three weeks than they have over the last three years.

Let's talk about the 10 page lease:On page three, section 10 it discusses maintenance. This section outlines what is un...
05/29/2026

Let's talk about the 10 page lease:
On page three, section 10 it discusses maintenance. This section outlines what is under the responsibility of CHG. Line 1 says they (CHG not tenant) are responsible for cleaning the common areas. So you could imagine why I was confused when the ticket master wrote me a door tag ticket for trash being in the common areas around/near my unit. Line 8 says they will maintain grounds and shrubs. Interesting, because they have not performed spring or fall clean up for 3-4 years now. They have dying or dead plants, shrubs and bushes in between the porches of units throughout the development. And the mulch hasn't had any attention for three years or more. The last time they spruced up the mulch, it literally smelled like s**t. Local landscape nurseries do not sell mulch that stinks like s**t. Just come and walk the grounds and see for yourself.

Now page 9, section 26, Contents of this agreement:

Most do not understand this, as they merely skim over everything or just don't care. So I will explain what this section means. It means, no matter what is in the lease, the only portions that can legally be enforced are portions that are not contradicted by local, state or federal laws. They have to include this in their lease, because they have several rules that are unconstitutional and are contracted by local, state and federal laws. One example of this is, they threaten you with a lease violation if you do not clear snow from the sidewalk leading to your porch within 24 hours after snow stops, they cite the city ordinance, but the sidewalks within the interior of the development are not covered under that ordinance. However, in the same statement, they will tell you, they will get to the sections they are responsible for when they get to it. Another example is open containers: They cite the city open container ordinance to forbid you from sitting on your porch enjoying adult beverages, or enjoying one while you cook out on your read deck. The city open container does not restrict such things.

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50 Lamont Street
Cumberland, MD
21502

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