'It's not fair': Orange Avenue relocation leaves public housing tenants with few options
On a Friday night just days before last Christmas, Mary was ready to move into her new home in Springfield Apartments.
When she tried to use the key, it didn’t work. Thinking she had the wrong apartment, she returned the following morning. Things looked different in the dark, and maybe she got confused.
But management had given her the wrong key.
The following Monday, when she finally got into her new apartment, she found an empty kitchen, a missing refrigerator and no stove.
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Mary, 56, was already unhappy with her move to Springfield Apartments, also known as Joe Louis, from her home of more than a decade, a public housing complex in South City called Orange Avenue Apartments.
The Tallahassee Housing Authority gave Mary and other residents three months to find a new place before Orange Avenue was demolished — Joe Louis was her last resort.
“I really didn’t want to move over here, but at the time, I couldn’t afford to move on my own,” she said.
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Mary was one of hundreds of Orange Avenue tenants who were relocated when demolition began on the public housing complex for redevelopment earlier this year. Some residents, however, allege THA mismanaged their relocation, displacing them and pushing them into more segregated neighborhoods.
A complaint filed in late June in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee states the housing authority and its efforts to circumvent the Orange Avenue Apartments redevelopment master plan violated the Fair Housing Act, purposefully excluded the tenants’ association in conversations about relocation and misinformed residents about housing choice vouchers.
The complaint also states the redevelopment will not include units that are comparable to those prior to demolition, which will prevent large families and tenants with disabilities from returning.
Over the span of a week, the Democrat spoke to Mary, whose name has been changed because she is afraid of retaliation from THA, and other former residents of Orange Avenue and current tenants of Joe Louis. They told reporters that they felt misinformed about vouchers, which complicated their search for a new home.
THA Executive Director Brenda Williams declined to answer any of the Democrat's questions about tenants' allegations.
"Since the matter you are inquiring about is in litigation, upon advice of counsel, I decline to answer the questions you submitted to me July 20, 2022," she wrote in a prepared statement.
"The Orange Avenue Apartments will be replaced with new modern units and be a great addition to the Southside Community. If any of the tenants are experiencing any problems please direct them to contact the Tallahassee Housing Authority (850-385-6126). Any issues they may have will be addressed promptly."
Complications, misinformation
In the complaint, plaintiffs allege THA pushed vouchers to avoid the responsibility of rehousing their public housing residents. Such vouchers are a subsidy that is paid to private landlords directly from a public housing agency.
According to the complaint, residents had trouble paying rent and utility bills because THA did not pay in a timely manner.
Mary said she applied for a voucher but was told by a THA representative she and her daughter, who lives with her, made too much money. Mary — who has worked for a local university for over 20 years — makes $11.86 an hour.
She tried to find a place to live, but the rent was too high for her and her daughter to pay on their own.
Later, another THA representative told Mary that she and her daughter could have applied for separate vouchers. But she had already moved into her new place at Joe Louis, where she doesn't qualify for income-based rent.
Her rent is about $752 a month.
Three bedrooms for 8 people
Ligny Aguilar, 33, remembers going to a meeting with THA representatives who said Orange Avenue residents would get first priority when the new apartments were built.
When Aguilar saw the blueprints of the new complex, however, she noticed the largest apartment held only three bedrooms — too small to house her family of eight.
Aguilar and her husband, Carlos, have six children between 3-16 years old.
"It's not fair for my family because we never wanted this to happen anyways," Aguilar said. "This is something that we went along with thinking that we would be accommodated, and we weren't accommodated."
In the redevelopment master plan, THA said one of its goals was to "Ensure at Least one-to-one replacement of existing housing with the neighborhood while providing housing choices."
The residents who lived in the four-and five-bedroom apartments are unlikely to return to the new apartments, however, because the plan does not include any four-and five-bedroom units, according to the complaint filed in federal court.
THA also pays representatives called relocators to help place former Orange Avenue residents. But in Aguilar's case, the search was completely up to her, she said.
Aguilar and her family — who were living in a four-bedroom apartment — had a voucher for a five-bedroom apartment. But, there were no four-or five-bedroom housing options that would accept her voucher.
Her relocator deflected the blame onto Aguilar: "To be constantly told by relocators who were supposed to help us that we aren't doing enough, that we need to hurry it up, it was frustrating," she said.
Aguilar said she was told by THA that if her family didn't move out by a specific date, they would lose their voucher or have to go to Joe Louis. So, she downgraded to a three-bedroom voucher and now lives in a cramped apartment with her husband and six children.
The three-bedroom voucher pays $1,046, and the Aguilar family is responsible for the rest of the funds, utilities and apartment insurance.
After seven years, the birth of three of her children and numerous health issues which led to a hysterectomy and the discovery of an enlarged heart, Aguilar graduated from Florida State University in May with her bachelor's degree in criminology.
She's currently a stay-at-home mom, but looks forward to getting a job so her family can finally afford a comfortable place to live.
"A lot of us are in the housing program for a reason," she said. "We're struggling just to make ends meet."
No options and an air mattress on the floor
Residents affiliated with Orange Avenue also told Democrat reporters they were given a list of potential housing options by THA, but that many of the listings did not take vouchers or were unavailable.
Mary and other residents said they heard of others who couldn’t find an affordable place to live even with their vouchers.
The complaint also alleges THA pushed residents out of Joe Louis and Pinewood Place, another property managed by THA, to make room for those Orange Avenue residents who had trouble finding a place to live.
Tina, whose name has also been changed, was an Orange Avenue resident and has been looking for over a year for a place to stay with her voucher. She was moved to another apartment in the Orange Avenue complex before being sent to Joe Louis in late June.
“I can’t really eat, I can’t really sleep, because at the end of the day, I could become homeless,” Tina said.
She doesn’t care to unpack because she says THA has given her three months to find another place.
Her living room doesn’t have a couch, an ottoman or a coffee table. It’s filled with stacked boxes, which surround her air mattress on the floor.
Tina sleeps in the living room.
“I don’t mind living where I’m at, but I can’t do the stairs,” she said.
She can’t go up stairs with her bad knees. In her new apartment at Joe Louis, all the bedrooms and the full bathroom with the shower are on the second floor.
She’s been taking showers at her daughter’s house in between her night shifts as a cleaning lady and her day job, driving for DoorDash.
“They’re putting it all on us to find a place, but they’re the ones that are putting us out, so it’s kind of been depressing to me because I didn’t want to come to Joe Louis anyway.” she said.
2 weeks to find a home
Joe Louis tenants confirmed there had been more evictions at the apartment complex in recent months, and more than one tenant the Democrat spoke to said they were given a notice saying they had 14 days to pay up or leave.
“...THA has issued numerous notices of eviction for non-payment that provide residents with only 14 days to pay or vacate the premises, despite federal regulations currently requiring 30 days’ notice of eviction for residents of public housing,” the complaint states.
It wasn't until far into the redevelopment process that THA tried to get Emergency Rental Assistance Program funds for residents at Joe Louis. That delay resulted in evictions, which the complaint says made room for Orange Avenue tenants.
Mary, who moved to Joe Louis in December, was given a 14-day notice to pay an outstanding balance in April, despite her rent being paid in full with both Our Florida rental assistance money and personal funds, which the Democrat independently verified.
Like Tina, Mary hasn't unpacked her family photos, her things still sit in boxes in her living room because she believes this is temporary. She said she doesn’t like Joe Louis because there's more violence in the area compared to her community in South City.
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She dreams of a one-story brick house with a fence: A kitchen with granite countertops and a flat-top stove; a large soaking tub in the bathroom; hardwood floors, ceiling fans and lots of windows.
Mary dreams of owning a home one day. But the fear of not being able to afford a mortgage is what stops her from trying.
Contact Ana Goñi-Lessan at AGoniLessan@tallahassee.com and follow her on Twitter @goni_lessan. Contact Christopher Cann at ccann@tallahassee.com and follow @ChrisCannFL on Twitter.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Orange Avenue relocation leaves public housing tenants with few options
