May 2018: Fire Department report comes out and concludes "unattended cooking" causes the 4AM fire
(May 19, 2018) IN THE STORY in the Triad City Beat that appeared as events are still unfolding, part of the article bears additional comments, I think.
Listen, is it all that bad? The landlord will even let your rent slide a bit, reminding you that you still owe, owe, owe. He knows your English is crappy, he knows you're unlikely to complain to authorities, he knows you don't know how to fill out a complaint form or even who to call, he knows you fled from a bad place and he knows he's got you right where any well-run business wants to have his consumer: paying and paying, even partial payments, because everything the landlord makes is profit at that point. Ok, so you're gonna leave no matter what. You listened to Greensboro Housing Coalition and Legal Aid people who told you if your apartment isn't habitable and the landlord isn't repairing things (fridge, heat, broken windows, infestation ) you have the right not to pay rent.
The last card the landlord will play is to sue you for back rent. Undoubtedly, he's got the forms and an attorney ready to threaten you and your family with everything — just for the hell of it, just to see if they can get one more dime from you. And, this final tactic could work, because if you have to make a court appearance then it means you're losing a day's employment. And funny, because there always seem to be ways the other side can figure out how to delay and then make you appear again, the point being to make it so hard for you to leave that maybe you won't.
Summit-Cone apartments in 2012
(May 19, 2018) IN THE STORY in the Triad City Beat that appeared as events are still unfolding, part of the article bears additional comments, I think.
“It’s affordable,” Muse reportedly responded. “The rent is $525, and I don’t have a good background for renting. I have an eviction in my past. But they let me move in.
We wonder why people, especially children, are forced to live in dangerous housing conditions. As the neighbor of the devastated Congolese family attests, part of the answer has to do with evictions and the limited options for people with poor credit histories. And a high number of evictions has everything to do with a lack of affordable housing.
In this account Ms Muse is showing us something about the mechanics of renting, not having much money, and why refugees — first Amerasians (offspring of Vietnamese or Montagnard mother and American GI father), then Montagnards, now a mix of DRC and other refugee families — are cycled through places like "Heritage". (Wow! It has a name? We always called it, “You know, the apartments? The crummy ones on Summit?” And everyone who was a refugee or worked with refugees knew what units we referred to.)
It works like this: Upon arrival, each family member is credited with something like $1,000 (I don't know the exact number but it ain't $5,000 or a million, so relax, Republicans) which is used by their agency to provide the basics (and we do mean "basics") because families are not arriving at PTI like they've returned from Disneyland Florida, with three bags each and a mountain of shit filling an airport cart. Do the math and you'll see you've got very little to cover a deposit and first month's rent. This is where Ms Muse's remarks are helpful for readers to understand: Agapion is among a few owners in town who (1) tolerate renters with bad credit histories — that is, they're on hard times and may not be able to make next month's rent, a real risk to any landlord, and (2) accept renters like newcomer refugees who have no bank account, no credit history whatsoever, and no established track record of employment and (3) may even waive the deposit. Based on this generosity, some readers may believe such landlords and owners like the Agapions have a spot waiting for them in heaven, because Stephen Sills' report on the affordable housing crisis underlines just how bad things are in Greensboro.
But then this is how these “rules” play out. The landlord knows he's holding Aces. Whether the renter is a down on their luck American-born or whether they're a family fleeing Assad’s barrel bombs and poison gas in Syria, DRC’s horrific wars whose deaths are measured in the millions, or Vietnam’s Central Highlands, where the highlanders still face jailing and beatings, they have no other place to go. When our City talks about minimum compliance, that's an exact dollar figure the landlord knows he has to invest to make a piece of shit look habitable. That is to say, to pass code. Say you want to leave? You better have friends or family elsewhere with accumulated savings so they can help move you, maybe help with your down payment, etc. If not, your are in shitland for a long time and as we heard at the IAC meeting directly from one of the tenants, you will spend time protecting your family from rats and buying powerful bug sprays to kill roaches.
But then this is how these “rules” play out. The landlord knows he's holding Aces. Whether the renter is a down on their luck American-born or whether they're a family fleeing Assad’s barrel bombs and poison gas in Syria, DRC’s horrific wars whose deaths are measured in the millions, or Vietnam’s Central Highlands, where the highlanders still face jailing and beatings, they have no other place to go. When our City talks about minimum compliance, that's an exact dollar figure the landlord knows he has to invest to make a piece of shit look habitable. That is to say, to pass code. Say you want to leave? You better have friends or family elsewhere with accumulated savings so they can help move you, maybe help with your down payment, etc. If not, your are in shitland for a long time and as we heard at the IAC meeting directly from one of the tenants, you will spend time protecting your family from rats and buying powerful bug sprays to kill roaches.
Listen, is it all that bad? The landlord will even let your rent slide a bit, reminding you that you still owe, owe, owe. He knows your English is crappy, he knows you're unlikely to complain to authorities, he knows you don't know how to fill out a complaint form or even who to call, he knows you fled from a bad place and he knows he's got you right where any well-run business wants to have his consumer: paying and paying, even partial payments, because everything the landlord makes is profit at that point. Ok, so you're gonna leave no matter what. You listened to Greensboro Housing Coalition and Legal Aid people who told you if your apartment isn't habitable and the landlord isn't repairing things (fridge, heat, broken windows, infestation ) you have the right not to pay rent.
The last card the landlord will play is to sue you for back rent. Undoubtedly, he's got the forms and an attorney ready to threaten you and your family with everything — just for the hell of it, just to see if they can get one more dime from you. And, this final tactic could work, because if you have to make a court appearance then it means you're losing a day's employment. And funny, because there always seem to be ways the other side can figure out how to delay and then make you appear again, the point being to make it so hard for you to leave that maybe you won't.
The "happy" ending is that most families finally leave — unless they burn or suffocate to death, as happened to the poor kids last week. Under these circumstances, a landlord is not unhappy. Why? Because in an affordable housing shortage there are always desperate people at the bottom who need a place for themselves and their kids. After a few fixes and generous extension times to fend off city inspectors and whatever that the city committee in charge throws at you in threats (Hamlet: “Words, words, words.”), you've got your place up and running, ready for another family/victim. Because of Trump, the numbers of refugees entering Greensboro, a “welcoming”, “stranger to neighbor” city, are down. But it doesn't matter, because there are always plenty of struggling folks who need a place to stay.
If you believe that market forces should be allowed to determine life's winners and losers, if you believe a can-do spirit and relentlessly optimistic faith can conquer all, if you believe the rules we’ve constructed for poor families and families from DRC are fair and contribute to a good community, then you probably believe there’s a spot in heaven for generous landlords like the Agapions.
If you believe that market forces should be allowed to determine life's winners and losers, if you believe a can-do spirit and relentlessly optimistic faith can conquer all, if you believe the rules we’ve constructed for poor families and families from DRC are fair and contribute to a good community, then you probably believe there’s a spot in heaven for generous landlords like the Agapions.
