Single Mom VS. Slumlord Nightmare

Hey y'all. As some of you know I am a proud single mama to a 5 year old wonder boy. After leaving an abusive relationship we were able to get on our feet pretty miraculously and without much help. Mentally, physically, and emotionally I was thriving. I went on a maintenance schedule with my therapist, ran 4 days a week, and worked too much. 30 hours fri-sun as a server. On average 15 hour doubles back to back with an opening shift on Sundays. I couldn't walk on Mondays but we were good, healthy, and happy.

 

When we went to re-sign our lease at our safe-haven of an apartment, we were told the landlord had changed their minds and would have family moving into our unit instead. We had 1 month to move. I had turned 30 the day before and just left my job of 2 years to start at a new job with potential. I know now it was too good to be true, but we found a place in a familiar neighborhood with our found family and support nearby.

 

Not even one month into my new job, my bank account was hacked and drained. It happened to several people at this restaurant that I had just started working for. My entire savings, mostly the remainder of my tax return after moving was gone. I was given a temporary credit for a month while fraud was investigated. Due to a technicality, it was deemed not a fraud case and the credit was taken back leaving me more than 2000 in debt.

 

At the same time, I realized our new apartment had roaches and mice. I bought cats and gave the landlords a chance to fumigate. I soon realized that the restaurant and owners I was working for were abhorrent to say the least, stealing money from employees and promoting a toxic work culture. I did my job well, but refused to comply with the politics of the workplace and I was wrongfully fired in October of 2019 without warning. 

 

For the first time in my life I was fired, and without a job. To make matters worse, it was the first time that I was unable to find a serving gig quickly. It was seasonally not a great time to hire and my luck seemed to run out. A few months before the pandemic hit, I found a job serving late nights. After lock down began, I applied 6x for unemployment but was denied because I hadn’t worked at my new job long enough to collect.

 

I thought that was as low as things could get. I was wrong. Fast forward to a year and a half later. Both of my cats caught fleas from a mouse they had caught. When management wouldn't get a licensed exterminator, I called a specialist to confirm. Unfortunately they had even worse news…we had bed bugs too. Just to clarify this mess, we now had roaches, mice, bed bugs and fleas. You wouldn't know we even had pests from looking at our home as I'm a bit obsessive about cleaning and take pride in keeping our home healthy and cozy.

It was an arduous and painful summer dragging all fabrics in our home across town to the laundromat and back without a car. But soon after, management finally provided professional extermination. We signed a new lease. I was given a monthly discount for a few months to make up for the thousands I'd spent managing this on my own and our place really became a home again. We had 8 glorious months during peak lock down with no issues. But management decided to deny the fumigation maintenance required and roaches and mice returned.

 

 The landlord lives in Puerto Rico and leaves his incompetent and corrupt sons to "manage" the building. Their maintenance man lives below us and has not only been unprofessional and unable to properly execute his jobs, he has threatened me and used hate speech numerous times including screaming the N word whenever he's heated, which is daily. After being ignored by the landlord and building manager, I began advocating for myself and withholding rent until we received proper fumigation again. 

After months of 311 complaints and hours of tedious online forms, emails, and calls designed to exhaust folks, I was able to find pro bono legal representation with a housing support company called Rentervention. Rentervention is only able to provide contact with the owner's legal representation on your behalf. However the landlord and management have been unsurprisingly noncompliant to this attempt at communication and resolution as well. 

We have lived here for 3 years now. We made this place a home in so many ways. My son’s best friends live next door. Without family support, our found family in the neighborhood have been invaluable. Despite the pests, it was still our beloved home/neighborhood which made it more difficult to reconcile.

After attempting to finish school 3 times in the last 7 years, I was finally able to go back this year. Previously I had gone to community colleges, worked 2-3 jobs, and paid my own school costs out of pocket without financial aid. I was accepted at UIC and made the Dean's list my first semester back. I’m going to school to teach English and ESL.

I can’t rely on my 10+ years experience in the service industry because I have a cavus (arch) deformity. It causes pain and ankle instability and has evolved into an often debilitating disability. With this physical constraint and inconsistent gig work during a pandemic, moving was not an option. Thankfully we are looking for apartments now and hoping to move in the next month if possible

 

I was recently informed by our local alderman's office that a case has been filed against the landlord. This is strictly for the building violations. The health code violations would need to be made into a separate case. Resolution could take up to a year or more.

 Most recently, I have been quarantining my room for 3 months as bed bugs have returned and they illegally refuse to fumigate. For me this means getting dressed out of trash bags with select clothes in them and sleeping on my son's twin spring mattress. We also haven't had a working sink for the past 2 months. As bleak as it sounds, my infinitely curious and lovely son barely notices things and stays blissfully unaware because I use almost all of my energy to compartmentalize the stress and maintain the warmth and stability of our home.

 

I promise you despite the length of this epic saga I am leaving out soooo many incredulous and horrifying details from this experience that have forever altered me. I truly haven't lived freely in three years, I've just been surviving. It's a battle to stay healthy and positive and present for my son. Managing my C-PTSD while navigating even more complex trauma and a full-time course load has been my full time job.

 It's a weird sensation to have so many aspects of your life working the way you want them to while simultaneously staying in crisis/panic mode. I always say it feels like you are a plane with nowhere to land. Nowhere to rest and refuel. Your home despite the quality, size, or price should be a sanctuary. The criminal choices made by these landlords have left me building a foundation on quicksand, but I won't let it define me.

 

As private as I have been with my struggles, I no longer have the bandwidth to do this on my own, which is why I started this GoFundMe. My son is the child I always dreamed of having and the only child I wish to have. These are the golden years and I want to appreciate them. We owe almost 7000 from withholding rent and need help to move to a new home. Any and every little bit of support you can show from a single dollar donation to sharing this with folks who may have the resources or platform to help will directly benefit our family in more ways than I can express. Thanks for your time if you're still reading. I wish the best for you all in this year and those to come <3

 

 

*If anyone else is dealing with housing insecurity, pest or landlord issues and need resources, advice, tips or just an ear to sob and scream at please don't hesitate to reach out. You are not alone.