Volunteers spread holiday cheer to 15 remaining families at UC Townhomes amid rodent infestation
A spokesperson for IBID Associates, which owns the homes, said they’re responding to complaints.
With gospel music and the smell of smoke from multiple portable fire pits piercing the cold air, a dozen volunteers got to spreading holiday cheer for about 15 families in the University City Townhomes on Sunday afternoon.
About 20 volunteers — including students from the nearby University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, labor union members, and other supporters — navigated the holiday operation using a two-prong approach. Some wrapped garlands and string lights around the apartments of those who remain in the complex that once housed about 70 families. Others took to making chalk outlines of Christmas trees. Meanwhile, people such as Sheldon Davids, a former resident of the Townhomes who left in September, came ready to tackle minor apartment repairs with his toolbox.
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“We’ve decided that we’re going to step into the group in any way we can to send a message that notwithstanding the amount of residents that are left, the heart of the community is still here,” he said, adding remaining residents needed something to look forward to after a difficult year.
Last year, owners of Townhomes IBID Associates announced it wouldn’t renew its affordable housing contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development after about 40 years. Since then, residents have fought to preserve the homes on 40th and Market Streets, only to see most of their neighbors move out and the deadline for the remaining families to move extended multiple times.
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The latest deadline is set for the end of January, but remaining residents describe the relocation process as a brutal one, where their moving options are in faraway neighborhoods where they have no community support.
“I want to stay in this area,” said 60-year-old Darlene Foreman, who had lived in the complex for close to 30 years. “Everything that I need to take care of me is right here.”
Gesturing, she added: “My doctor is right there, the supermarket is right there. We have SEPTA [train station] right here.”
Foreman and others are on the search for new homes using federal housing vouchers. But they described the stress of looking at places in entirely new neighborhoods as crushing. Foreman said she will also have to downsize to a one-bedroom apartment in the move. She took comfort in the two Christmas trees being decorated by volunteers in the courtyard.
But as remaining residents look for new homes, they also accuse IBID Associates of being neglectful of maintenance requests in recent months. Foreman said a key shower component wasn’t working properly, another resident said she was without heat for more than a week. Most notably, residents described a mice and rat infestation they say has ballooned since management stopped monthly exterminations.
“The rats are vicious,” said 35-year-old Rasheda Alexander, who has lived in the homes for 14 years. “It’s really scary to go outside because they’re really large.”
IBID spokesperson Kevin Feeley said maintenance continues to respond to complaints anytime they’re brought to the attention of management. On the rodent issue, Feeley confirmed that HUD relayed resident complaints around October and an exterminator was brought out. He posited that the rodent population might have increased because of the emptying apartments.
Regardless of the reason, people such as Lynn Green, 65, described the holiday season as feeling a bit bleaker with the infestation adding to moving struggles.
Green said her search has been especially grueling because she needs a first-floor apartment due to health conditions. She couldn’t take the last apartment she toured because of mold that would trigger a lung condition she’s living with. It’s hard to get into the spirit of the holidays when you have to line the apartment’s nooks with various mouse traps, she said. She welcomed the volunteers slated to help her replace the traps Sunday.
Management has “forgotten folks here at 40th and Market,” Green said. “There’s no urgency for what we need but we still live here.”