My friend Steve Skelton is going though some hard times. Below is the email I received a few days ago in which expresses his need for support to pay movers so he can improve his housing situation.

Scott Goode, on behalf of Steve Skelton

A Moving Story

I have had conflicts with the management of Christopher Towers since nearly as soon as I moved in. One of the first real conversations I had with Chris Kendall was in October 2020 when I asked him if he had a basement I could move into if I got evicted. Considering we barely knew each other, it should be understood as a sign of desperation.

In March of this year, my next door neighbor was lying down in his bedroom. He was suffering from a liver illness, and would pass out after taking pain medication. A relative of his was in the kitchen cooking bacon. The relative stepped away, and grease popped up. There are dry chemical canisters (potassium bicarbonate) to put out stovetop fires, but they did not work. So the sprinkler was activated.

The sprinklers are very effective, putting out fires within minutes if not seconds. One time a cat knocked over a burning candle causing a sofa to enflame. The resident tried putting out the flame by waving a sheet in front of the sofa. The sprinklers came on. She got soaked. Another time a resident was charging some devices with a battery charger. It exploded. He and his wife got soaked. By law the sprinklers have to keep running until the fire fighters arrive and determine there is no more threat. The water runs down the walls to the first floor, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage.

When the alarm goes off, there is anxiety and panic. I’ve been told that the building – made of steel and concrete – will not burn. If there is a fire, as long as the steel door of the apartment is shut, the only thing what would burn are the contents inside an apartment. Besides the loud siren there is a recorded voice giving instructions which directs people to go down the stairs or to wait on the landings of the stairwell. With people in wheelchairs, using walkers, or just unsteady on their feet, and with people coming down the stairs, and possibly firefighters coming up the stairs, hanging out on the landing is a risk in itself. When the alarms went off, I would look down the hallway to see if something was happening on my floor, and then I would check upper floors to see if I could expect water damage. If the incident was on a floor below me, I knew I would be okay. Thankfully, I also have earplugs.

With the incident in March, the water pushed out the sprinkler nozzle so that water gushed out the pipe in greater quantity than usual, and five of us on two floors had to be evacuated. This happened during the time that the Masters Golf Tournament was being played, and hotel rooms were hard to come by. The Management, with a lot of argumentation from the resident who was leader of the tenants organization, reserved rooms but only for two nights at a time. The hotels, perversely, rented out rooms as soon as they could. The result was we five went to three separate hotels during that week.

When I got back “home” there was cleaning up to be done, and my back, hip, and knee joints began hurting more than before. Stress.

I had been evacuated two times before, in both cases when the fire marshal feared that electrical panels might have been compromised. One time was for one night. I had gotten reenters insurance to provide for hotel stays, but with the $500 deductible, it really was of no benefit. The second time was when a rapid cold snap came though the whole country and there were power outages and burst pipes all over. That time the whole building was evacuated and most people went to two separate hotels. That was for two nights before the fire marshals cleared us for return.

In April, when I got back to my place, I decided that enough was enough. I took my walking cane and trudged down the street to Finlay House. I asked them how many fires they had. They said they have regular fire drills, but in 20 years had not had actual fires. I put in my application. In June I went back and was told there were only four people ahead of me and that in two months something would be available. I waited more than two months and checked again and found out the leasing agent was gone. The new leasing agent said there was only one person ahead of me. Then I got a call in October that an apartment on the 16th floor would be ready by the 17th of October. Then I was told there would be a delay because there were more than usual repairs to be made. Then I was told that the previous resident had left things in the apartment. Finally, I got a call on the 5th of November telling me that there had been a mix-up between apartments. The one on the 16th floor was “market rent,” reserved for high income people brining in $25 thousand or more per year; and one on the second floor is HUD subsidized, with the rent at 30% of income. Asked what the difference is between the apartments, the leasing agent said “absolutely nothing.” It is simply a matter of bookkeeping.

(As an aside, the HUD subsidy guarantees the owners of the property get an established amount, regardless of how much the resident pays. In our case, the “contract rent” is $1725 per month. If a resident pays $400 per month, based on an upper limit of $17,000 per year income, the property owner gets the balance. In other words, the landlords receive the government welfare.)

My hip problems have gotten worse and I didn’t feel up to walking down the street. Monday, the 17th. I got a ride down there, was able to look at the apartment. It is smaller. I’ll be going from 644 sq ft to 595 sq ft. The kitchen is half the size I have now. The fridge lacks an icemaker. The stove is smaller. I don’t plan to use the stove, and the agent said I could use the top as counter space and volunteered I could unplug to stove to avoid any fires. I hope she is right because at the Towers I was told I could not do that. I will lose the wall of windows overlooking Maxcy Gregg Park and will lose a view of the skies. The closet space is less. Being on the second floor, though, I expect to get more exercise by using the stairs. And I am hoping my mental health will be better. (Feel free to tell me so even if you don’t believe it to be true,)

I still have to wait for the financial person to calculate the rent amount. It should be the same as what I’m paying now – but who knows?

Then, over this past weekend, I found out my Social Security Allowance, my only income, will be reduced. It seems I was dropped from Medicaid, and so will lose the benefit of the state paying the Medicare Part B premium. My monthly income will drop from $1090 to $905. This is quite discouraging. Monday, the 17th I went down to Finlay House relay this new information, and got an extension until Monday, December 1st for signing the lease. Surely, I will find out before then what the rent will be, and so could conceivably begin physically moving before the 1st.

Physical moving will depend on helpers. Two approaches to moving have been considered. One, is paying movers $160 per hour, for what I expect to be in excess of 10-12 hours. My estimate is based on having 120+ crates and boxes of books; several helpers each with a hand truck; four crates/boxes per hand truck trip; approximately 30 minutes to go down the elevator and load a vehicle; and then come back for another run. There are also some book shelves, chairs, and a couple of tables, plus odds and ends, like clothes. I can borrow from a Visa account that I had thought was closed, and spend the rest of my life paying it off.

The second approach that has been suggested to me is with volunteer helpers, whom I plan to pay $15 per hour (cash in hand, no deductions; the average wage for movers in Columbia is $17 per hour, but with deductions); and to use personal vehicles.

I think a hybrid plan would be best. To have volunteer helpers put in two to three hours moving out, and another two to three moving in. And then to take advice on how to proceed next.

I am now contemplating all the negatives and positives. Perhaps the Universe if forcing me to divest myself of too many books, and forcing me to be more organized than ever before.

All wishes for good luck will be accepted.

Let's see if we can get some funding to pay for the movers. Please pass this information along to anyone who might be able to help Steve