Tenants Forced Out Of Rundown Public Housing
Posted: 4:20 pm EST November 9, 2009Updated: 6:11 pm EST November 9, 2009
OCALA, Fla. -- Sixty families in an Ocala public housing complex only have a few more months before the government wants them to move out. The Marion Manor Apartments on 4th Street are so rundown, the government is pulling its HUD funding, but some people who live there don't want to go.The string of apartment buildings has seen better days. Marion Manor may be rundown, but most of the tenants do not want to leave it."No, it's not fair, because the government let us down. They really let us down. Because these are our homes,” tenant Dolly Washington said.Last spring, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) pulled its funding to the government-subsidized complex. The feds said the buildings were in terrible shape and blamed the owners for not keeping them up. But now, dozens of people will have to find other places to live."We really don't know nothing, or what's going to happen,” tenant Alice Gray said.Gray doesn't expect her apartment to be perfect. She says most everything works. Her only complaint is there's no hot water. She has been living there a year and she says it has never worked.But to Gray it is home. Her friends are there. There are relationships she does not want to lose. And, while many tenants say the Miami-based non-profit group that runs the complex should have done better, they also say the owners tried.The buildings have new roofs, there is some new paint. But the feds lost their patience, leaving tenants like Dolly Washington worrying about the future."It's gonna be hard. So, as we say, we'll leave it in the hands of the Lord, and that's all we can do,” she said.HUD will contact residents in the coming months to help them relocate. A tenant's rent is based on his or her income. A few pay as little as $60 per month.
Copyright 2009 by wftv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.














Pump Patrol
Theme Park Guide
Central Florida's Medical City
Bored Room
Buy It For Half 


