I was housed by the HUB in April of 2017. I spent 13 years on the streets, with the last 5 being a FTCFTH occupier. My housing came at the end of a long protest. Snubbed by the HUB and The Poor Tour was the protest. The HUB was not doing its job, and the homeless were dying in doorways. Encampment were not permitted to last. We took a stand.
I got housed.
As soon as I was housed, I noticed a few issues. A leaky ceiling with evidence of water damage. A missing window, which took two months to fix. A trash area that I was locked out of. A destroyed mailbox.
My health is bad. My lungs are not doing what’s needed for simple everyday movements. Sometimes I’m out of breath from walking to the bathroom.
The window got fixed. Nothing else did. The leak in the roof has grown to the entire ceiling in the kitchen area. The leaks are dripping on the refrigerator, the stove, the counter, and all over the floor. I do not have enough buckets. I cannot cook. The floor is very slick. I struggle to dump a few lbs. of water. So far, the five gallon bucket has been dumped 8 times, and the 2 gallon bucket has been dumped about 10 times.
I pant when I walk. I gasp when I carry two gallons. To empty the five gallon bucket almost kills me.
Rentoak ( property management company) has known for years about the roof. The previous tenant said she complained for five years and it never got fixed. The HUB knows it’s leaking but I no longer have a worker to complain to. The HUB has again left a person hanging.
This is typical of poor people’s housing. The effort it takes to deal with this takes a lot out of someone who can move. Imagine a disabled person dealing.
–Mike Zint
