Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting (https://kycir.org/tag/housing/)
The COVID-19 pandemic lays bare the quandary of life in public housing: staying home means dealing with a crowded, antiquated high rise, plagued with maintenance issues and infestations.
When the first of the month came, Katrice Gill couldn’t make rent. The part-time, in-home health aide and single mother usually has no trouble paying the $200 monthly contribution to her Section 8 subsidized rent, plus utilities. But with schools closed, she’s home with her four young kids, and the grocery bill has ballooned.
Gill, 32, said she tried to call her landlord, but didn’t get a call back. Then, on April 7, the landlord sent an email with the subject line in all caps: PAST DUE NOTICE.
With the message came an added charge: she was assessed a late fee of $91, nearly 45 percent of what she usually pays in rent. “I’m just really stressed out,” she said.
Codes officials will no longer issue premature violations or encourage landlords to evict their tenants to avoid hefty fines.
Louisville’s public nuisance ordinance is intended to provide a way to bust up drug houses and crime dens. But police and code enforcement officials have been increasingly focused on residential locations where crimes are reported — regardless of whether the victim or the offender lives there.
Data shows that poverty rates climb and populations wane in the neighborhoods where evictions have been the most common over the last 16 years.