Marine
11-25-2002, 3:50am
PALMETTO -- More than 40 families will have to find homes in a matter of weeks, and the city and most local social service agencies cannot help them.
The families live in Palmetto's Colonial Apartments. The beige, concrete-block duplexes, which house mostly Spanish-speaking families of migrant, blue-collar and service workers, will soon be torn down to make way for affordable housing to be built by Habitat for Humanity.
Most families knew that they would have to move eventually, but until last week, none realized that as soon as they unwrap their Christmas presents, they'll have to pack them away so the duplexes they live in can be leveled.
Those families are scrambling to find housing, but their options are limited. There is little housing in Manatee County that is affordable for such families, according to some social-service agencies.
Catholic Charities, an area agency with a mission to help the Hispanic community, said it doesn't have the resources to help the evicted tenants.
"We don't have emergency funds, and we don't have any facilities," said Lucille Aiken, director of Catholic Charities in Venice. "There's nothing we can offer."
Aiken said Manatee County offers few resources and that folks who can't find affordable homes will have to turn to homeless shelters, such as the Salvation Army's.
"It's really a situation that stresses all the system when you have a lot of people dumped out of their homes," Aiken said.
Clarence Love Sr., who owns the duplexes, originally wanted his residents out a week before Christmas, but the city's Community Redevelopment Agency pressured him into allowing them to stay until Jan 1.
The city and Habitat for Humanity paid $850,000 for 5.7 acres along 11th Street Drive and 12th Street West. Earlier last week, Love tacked terse notices, written in English, to tenants' doors saying that they were being evicted.
Love must evict all the tenants before Habitat for Humanity will take over the project and begin building. Their plan calls for 40 new homes to be built on the site over the next four years.
The Hispanic American Alliance put in a bid to build affordable housing at the site, but didn't make the final cut.
Lee Halstead, housing director with the alliance, said his agency's bid included buying the property occupied and helping tenants find housing.
"We knew it was going to be a tragedy to kick these people out on the street at the end of the year," Halstead said.
He called Manatee County's housing situation "critical."
"We get people coming to us for rentals and we don't know where to put them," Halstead said. "We just can't tell them anything except we don't have anything and we don't know where you're going to find it."
Leaders with Palmetto's CRA, which helped spearhead the $3 million-plus project, said it did what it could do to help the residents by contacting local social-service agencies and landlords.
Even though the city pitched in $450,000 to purchase Love's property, Tanya Lukowiak, director of the CRA, said the city is not responsible for relocating tenants.
She said the houses to be built will serve the same community that's being displaced. But many Colonial residents are undocumented workers, and without proper paperwork won't qualify for loans and other federal assistance to buy the homes.
Mayor Larry Bustle said he is "comfortable" with the way the CRA handled the purchase.
"The city didn't want to get in the middle," Bustle said. "We purposely stood back and let the CRA do its job."
Barney Rosenstein, a retired attorney in Sarasota and a member of the Association of Retired Attorneys, said the city should have done more to help the tenants.
"The city has an obligation to find apartments for these people," Rosenstein said. "They're not objects."
Saltacion Betancour, 55, has lived in one of the duplexes on 12th Street West for two years and said she never received a warning before last week.
"We don't have money. It's so little time to find something else. The deposits, lights, water …" she said, her voice trailing off as she shook her head.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Site=SH&Date=20021124&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=211240469&Ref=AR&Profile=1060
*sighs; shakes head*
The families live in Palmetto's Colonial Apartments. The beige, concrete-block duplexes, which house mostly Spanish-speaking families of migrant, blue-collar and service workers, will soon be torn down to make way for affordable housing to be built by Habitat for Humanity.
Most families knew that they would have to move eventually, but until last week, none realized that as soon as they unwrap their Christmas presents, they'll have to pack them away so the duplexes they live in can be leveled.
Those families are scrambling to find housing, but their options are limited. There is little housing in Manatee County that is affordable for such families, according to some social-service agencies.
Catholic Charities, an area agency with a mission to help the Hispanic community, said it doesn't have the resources to help the evicted tenants.
"We don't have emergency funds, and we don't have any facilities," said Lucille Aiken, director of Catholic Charities in Venice. "There's nothing we can offer."
Aiken said Manatee County offers few resources and that folks who can't find affordable homes will have to turn to homeless shelters, such as the Salvation Army's.
"It's really a situation that stresses all the system when you have a lot of people dumped out of their homes," Aiken said.
Clarence Love Sr., who owns the duplexes, originally wanted his residents out a week before Christmas, but the city's Community Redevelopment Agency pressured him into allowing them to stay until Jan 1.
The city and Habitat for Humanity paid $850,000 for 5.7 acres along 11th Street Drive and 12th Street West. Earlier last week, Love tacked terse notices, written in English, to tenants' doors saying that they were being evicted.
Love must evict all the tenants before Habitat for Humanity will take over the project and begin building. Their plan calls for 40 new homes to be built on the site over the next four years.
The Hispanic American Alliance put in a bid to build affordable housing at the site, but didn't make the final cut.
Lee Halstead, housing director with the alliance, said his agency's bid included buying the property occupied and helping tenants find housing.
"We knew it was going to be a tragedy to kick these people out on the street at the end of the year," Halstead said.
He called Manatee County's housing situation "critical."
"We get people coming to us for rentals and we don't know where to put them," Halstead said. "We just can't tell them anything except we don't have anything and we don't know where you're going to find it."
Leaders with Palmetto's CRA, which helped spearhead the $3 million-plus project, said it did what it could do to help the residents by contacting local social-service agencies and landlords.
Even though the city pitched in $450,000 to purchase Love's property, Tanya Lukowiak, director of the CRA, said the city is not responsible for relocating tenants.
She said the houses to be built will serve the same community that's being displaced. But many Colonial residents are undocumented workers, and without proper paperwork won't qualify for loans and other federal assistance to buy the homes.
Mayor Larry Bustle said he is "comfortable" with the way the CRA handled the purchase.
"The city didn't want to get in the middle," Bustle said. "We purposely stood back and let the CRA do its job."
Barney Rosenstein, a retired attorney in Sarasota and a member of the Association of Retired Attorneys, said the city should have done more to help the tenants.
"The city has an obligation to find apartments for these people," Rosenstein said. "They're not objects."
Saltacion Betancour, 55, has lived in one of the duplexes on 12th Street West for two years and said she never received a warning before last week.
"We don't have money. It's so little time to find something else. The deposits, lights, water …" she said, her voice trailing off as she shook her head.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Site=SH&Date=20021124&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=211240469&Ref=AR&Profile=1060
*sighs; shakes head*