Wednesday, October 26, 2011

As Newark High-Rise Loses Aid, Fear Sweeps Through Its Tenants

October 25, 2011

As Newark High-Rise Loses Aid, Fear Sweeps Through Its Tenants

When it opened in 1971, Carmel Towers in Newark was a model of the sort of high-rise urban development that the federal government was encouraging through generous subsidies. Now, federal officials are cutting off financial aid to the building’s landlord, leaving hundreds of residents fearing that they could soon be evicted.
Distress has been rising through the 25-story building since midsummer, when tenants started getting word that the Department of Housing and Urban Development had decided to end its contract with Carmel Towers on Nov. 1.
The tenants will receive vouchers to help pay the rent elsewhere, but many have not been able to find another home. Others say they do not have enough cash for a move, much less to pay for the utility bills in a new apartment, which had been covered by HUD at Carmel Towers.
“Now we’re stuck with not having $500 or $600 for a deposit,” one young woman complained at a meeting with tenant advocates Tuesday night in the building’s lobby that was attended by more than 150 tenants. “Then we’ve got to get a refrigerator, got to get the lights turned on. And we’ve only got two elevators to use to move out.”
Several voices called out in unison: “One. One” One of the two elevators in Carmel Towers was out of order again.
Most said they had found apartments elsewhere that would accept their vouchers, but lacked the money for down payments.
HUD declined to renew the contract after the building failed two consecutive federal inspections, according to Alan Gelfand, a HUD spokesman. In a July 2010 inspection, he said, the building received only 18 out of a possible 100 points because it had a variety of problems with its wiring, elevators, windows and sidewalks.
“The problems at Carmel Towers have included serious heath and safety issues that have not been adequately addressed over time,” Mr. Gelfand said.
The government had paid most of the monthly rent for each apartment, often more than $1,000 a month, while tenants contributed up to 30 percent of their incomes, in some cases paying less than $100 a month. The Newark Housing Authority is issuing the tenants vouchers equal to the amount of the subsidy they were receiving at Carmel Towers, but it is up to each tenant to find a new home that will accept the vouchers, known as Section 8.
More than 200 families occupied the building when it was full. Some have left, but most have not done so.
It is not clear what the landlord of Carmel Towers will do come Nov. 1, when the government will stop paying most of the rent. The building is managed by the R. P. Marzulli Company of Bloomfield, N.J., according to a manager working in the lobby office. Several messages left for the company’s president, Raymond P. Marzulli Jr., received no response.
The uncertainty has given rise to a fair amount of fear-based rumor. Some believe they will be locked out of the building come Nov. 1. Numerous tenants said they had heard that power and water would be shut off.
All untrue, said Kyle L. Rosenkrans, who teaches at the Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall Law School. “They can’t close the building and lock the door on Nov. 1,” Mr. Rosenkrans said. “That would be an illegal lockout.”
Some tenants have said they believed they had to use their voucher in Newark, making it more difficult to find a place. But under federal law, the voucher can be used anywhere in the country.
Many of those who remain either do not want to go, cannot afford to move or do not qualify for vouchers because they or members of their families have been convicted of felonies, said Amiri Baraka, chief of staff for Ras J. Baraka, a municipal councilman who attended the meeting.
“The building is in horrible condition, but some people are not as fortunate as others; they don’t have the means to move on,” Mr. Baraka said. He said the councilman had pressed city officials to arrange for an extension of the deadline to leave and to try to find some money to help pay for moving costs.
Mr. Baraka said he believed there were a few people interested in buying the building, which stands hard by Interstate 78 and commuter train tracks overlooking Weequahic Park, and rehabilitating it. Some said they would be happy to get out of the building, which they said had been plagued by electrical problems that had sparked fires and by water leaks that had damaged their bathrooms and caused mold.
Veronica Searles, a longtime resident who pays $85 a month to live with her young son on the ninth floor, said she needed to recoup her security deposit to cover the costs of moving to an apartment she had found a few blocks away, though she could not recall how much her deposit was.
“I’ve been here 14 years, and every year somebody’s gotten shot,” Ms. Searles said, looking over her shoulder as she spoke outside the entryway. But she added, “I’ll be stuck here until I receive the money from the deposit.”

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