A meeting was held on Thursday, after only four days of notice to the tenants of the property. A developer, who has no connection to the property asked the city planning commission for permission to tear down the apartments in order to build more student housing. There is almost no rental housing in this city that is not designated as student housing. But without allowing input by any of the tenants who attended the meeting, they decided on a 7-2 basis to give the permission. Mind you, the developer does not at this time own the property. Apparently the owners and the management partners of the property were as blindsided as the tenants were.
But here is the down low. The apartments are very old and not in the best condition. The rents are the lowest in the city that isn't low-income subsidized housing. The land under the apartments is likely worth more than the complex itself. Our eviction is pending.
By law they have to give us 60 days notice and pay our moving expenses. But we still have to find affordable housing in a city where that doesn't exist.
A tenants union has organized. I have my doubts that it will be effective against the mindset that poverty is a criminal offense. Those planning commissioners are up for re-election on Tuesday. We will see how that goes. I do not hold out hope.
The reality is that I will most likely need to move sooner rather than later. My lease is until the end of January. That means that they either have to extend my lease at the end of November, or let me know that they won't be extending it. Even if they extend my lease, with a letter they can cancel it at any time as long as I am give 60 days to vacate. I have not been looking for housing in this town. There are a few towns on the other side of the state line that are reasonably priced. It is about 40 miles from here. I have the income and credit score that renting elsewhere shouldn't be a problem. Or I could go north to the town where I was originally attempting to relocate when I came here. There are several apartment that are well within my reach. But they are farther away from my children.
Having so much recent experience with moving I feel confident that I can pack everything in my apartment and be out in two weeks. I don't think moving, other than having to pay the expense of it upfront to be re-imbursed should be that much of a problem. But I just don't want to do it
My plan is to stay here until I am told that I must move. Then I will move to be out on the day they tell me is the last day I can be here.
Damn! I am tired of having to start over because of other peoples stupidity.
Oh, that's terrible! But you are wise to plan for the worst while hoping for the best. May you have good luck in finding a new, affordable place, even if it is a bit further away from the kids.
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry to hear this, it's happening a lot in the Metro Phoenix area too. Greedy Developers are buying up everything, having Zoning changed to put up high density Housing next to larger Residential Properties worth a lot and it tanks our Equity, and making dense Luxury Units that Locals cannot afford. You at least have a plan and some options you can consider. I think you are right, there won't be much done to stop this from happening, it is inevitable. The Data Centers being built in a Desert with water being a precious commodity already is deeply disturbing and they drive Energy costs way up too, my last Utility Bill doubled and it wasn't coz we were using more energy... it's coz our City allowed too many Data Centers to be built already, with more planned. I think you should go where your Heart will be most content, where it's most affordable for quality of life, you can always have the Kids visiting, or make trips to see them, they will understand your reasons for looking out for your best interests.
ReplyDeleteI am so angry on your behalf! I don't even understand how a person with no vested interest in the property can do this! And how they would vote to allow this! It's all so unfair. There is a lack of affordable housing in my town. Enough that there is a dilapidated apartment building in deplorable shape and the authorities have turned a blind eye because the tenants can't afford to move anywhere else and there is no where else they can afford. The building has passed through several out of state owners and is now in court for lack of payments of taxes, etc.
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry this has happened to you.