Community Effort Saves Woman from Eviction
peace through reason (prop1@prop1.org)
Wed, 15 Jul 1998 13:06:16 -0400
Now here's a small light of hope in an otherwise murky world.
Community Effort Saves SE Woman From Eviction
By Hamil R. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 11, 1998; Page C01=20
A 36-year-old woman who is about to give birth to her
eighth child was saved from eviction yesterday after
community leaders in Southeast Washington came up
with more than $6,000 to pay three years in overdue rent
on her apartment in a public housing complex.
The payment brought to a close a bizarre day that at one
point saw Carolyn Clark's belongings stacked by the
curb while workers boarded up her five-bedroom
apartment in the Stoddard Terrace complex.
The court-ordered eviction was part of a continuing
crackdown by the D.C. Housing Authority, which has
been ousting as many as 50 delinquent tenants each
month to make room for the 18,000 people on waiting
lists for the 11,000 subsidized units in the city.
"It was a whole lot of teamwork that got me back into my
apartment," said Clark, whose case was seized upon by
tenant rights activists troubled by the aggressive eviction
policy.
Clark's children are ages 1, 4, 6, 7, 10, 17 and 18, and
she is nine months pregnant. She has never married.
"Every time I think it's the right man, it's the wrong man,"
she said. "I'm not going to deal with anybody else until
I'm married."
She paid a security deposit when she moved into the
$462-a-month apartment in June 1995, a Housing
Authority official said, and has made two rent payments
since then. Clark said her financial condition worsened
in March, when her monthly $689 welfare payment was
cut off after she failed to file proper paperwork on time.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Darrell White arrived to serve the
eviction papers shortly before 11 a.m. yesterday,
accompanied by a crew hired to remove Clark's
belongings.
"I know you have to do your job," said Karen Settles,
president of the Stoddard Terrace Tenants Association,
"but we are waiting for her aunt to bring $3,000."
White responded, "Landlord-tenant rules say that we
have to proceed."
Then, as all but the oldest of Clark's children looked on
from the sidewalk, the work crew began to strip the
apartment bare, piling their belongings by the curb.
"I feel a little bit sad," said Jacqueline Clark, 6, as she
watched the men pass by carrying toys, baby strollers
and three television sets.
But as the apartment emptied and the work crew began
nailing plywood covers over the door and windows,
Jacquelyn Henry, of Marshall Heights Development
Corp., worked feverishly to come up with money to pay
the back rent.
"The reason why we are stepping in is because we are
trying to prevent these children from being neglected,"
Henry said. "If she has seven children and is pregnant,
it's going to cost more to move her than for her to stay in
the apartment."
Arthur Jones, spokesman for Housing Authority, arrived
at the complex to defend the city's position.=20
"People have to pay their rent," Jones said. "We are very
tolerant of people having difficulty, but three years is a
long time to go without paying rent."
By the time Henry had finished her scramble for money,
the Marshall Heights group was ready to do business
with Jones.
"They gave to us a check . . . which represents the
balance of her $5,680, plus $445," to cover the cost of
the eviction, Jones said. "Because of the advocacy of the
Marshall Heights, we are allowing this woman back into
her apartment, because they went the extra mile."
After the boards came off the door and windows, and the
family's belongings were carried back inside, Clark said
the five-hour eviction had taught her an important lesson.
"I always want to take care of my business first," she
said.
=A9 Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
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