Dear Friends,

I've decided to come on this platform today to ask help from my community as I'm finding myself under dire financial need to relieve myself from the tremendously unsafe housing situation I'm currently in.

This building has a group of individuals who are selling hard drugs right in the entrance and lobby of the building, and are constantly intoxicated. They harass and catcall me daily when I enter and exit the building. They constantly break the locks of both doors which leaves the building open for them, and any individual that happens to wander in. To make matters worse, the management of this building has completely neglected to handle the situation. They only fixed the locks once after weeks of me emailing them to do so, and they refuse to deal with the criminal activity happening in the building. I've reported this to 311, 911, have gone on the Tenants' Helpline and no one has been able to provide any sort of effective advocacy on my behalf, leaving me unprotected and defenseless against the group of men that harasses me, and a management office that only seeks to financially take advantage of their tenants.

Due to these circumstances, I'm forced to leave this apartment by February 1st since, as a survivor of SA, I truly fear for my safety and can't in good conscience remain in these premises and continue to put myself at risk. That being said, this landlord has refused to meet me halfway with negotiations for me to get out of the last 60 days of the sublease. She is forcing my hand to continue to pay the remaining rent for the next two months even though I plan to vacate by February 1st. I have attempted to come to an agreement with her on numerous occasions, yet she refuses to negotiate. All the while, she also neglected to inform me of the blatant criminal activity and security issues happening in the building before signing the lease.

With the current climate, I also fear for my safety in this regard if dragged into a legal battle over a financial dispute. However, I am unable to cover the cost associated with her demands as well as seeking a new residence and the fees associated with it.

I am reaching out to you all because I've truly ran out of options to get through this rough patch. I'm a hardworking young woman who's never had any issues taking care of herself, but I'm deadlocked at this time and I'd really appreciate your support to remove myself from this situation.