Poor Residents In Another Recently-Purchased, Aging Housing Complex Get The Boot As Gentrifying Landlord Announces Plans For Major Renovations, Ending Participation In HUD's Section 8 Rent Subsidy Program

In Nashville, Tennessee, The Contributor reports:

• “As a mother, it’s a very stressful situation to not know where you’re going, for your kids to ask you, ‘Are we moving?’ Many nights, I’ve broken down and cried,” Idella Woodard said. A mother of two boys, she is worried about where she’ll live after a real estate firm's purchase of her apartment building in West Nashville has forced her to exit her home.
  
  Woodard joined fellow renters April 24 to protest in front of Covenant Capital Group, the firm that earlier this year notified tenants at Prestige Pointe and Premier West Apartments of non-renewal on their leases, and stated the property group would no longer be participating in the Section 8 voucher program.
  
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  Woodard, who was supposed to be out of her apartment days ago, is hoping for at least a 30-day extension so her sons can finish out the remaining few weeks of the school year without changing schools.
  
  Between the two complexes, more than 220 children will have to change school after residents are required to vacate the buildings.
  
  Virginia Tidwell, 71, attended the protest hoping to hear more options for her family, and worries that they won’t be able to find an affordable rental in Nashville on a fixed income. At this time, she isn’t sure where they will end up once they're required to leave.
  
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  In a statement, [Covenant CEO Govan] White said the buildings are in poor conditions and “have been in bankruptcy and foreclosure for years.”
  
  "Due to the urgent need for extensive renovation to both properties — both have uninhabitable units due to lack of upkeep prior to our ownership — we cannot extend leases further and nor can residents remain during these major construction projects.”

Source: Facing displacement, Nashville renters protest real estate firm. section 8 contract expire rent subsidies