Sunday, September 03, 2017

Foreclosing Bank Announces Building Closure After Being Left Holding The Bag On Aging, Dilapidated, Crime-Ridden Apartments, Forcing Over 100 Poor Families To Scramble For Scarce, Affordable Housing

In New Orleans, Louisiana, The New Orleans Advocate reports:
  • After widespread maintenance and crime issues within the Chateu Lane apartments in New Orleans East, the complex is slated to be shut down, according to a report from WWL-TV, leaving more than a hundred families out of a home.

    The apartment building, located at 6000 Chef Menteur Highway, has been foreclosed and failed to sell at auction, according to the report. Gulf Coast Bank now owns the property, and will no longer rent it to residents.

    The company managing the property, Latter and Blum, offered residents $1,000 reimbursements for moving out by Aug. 31.

    Multiple residents said they have nowhere else to go, and because the apartments don't qualify for Section 8 subsidies, they have been paying with their own money.

    "How could we up and find houses like that, and we just had to take them [kids] to find school clothes, tennis shoes and all that stuff and make sure our children go to school?" asked Charlene Walker, one of the residents, in an interview with WWL-TV.

    Widespread maintenance issues within the complex were detailed in April, and it has been the scene of at least three killings since 2016.

    Also this year, both the personal and unmarked service vehicles of a New Orleans police officer turned up at Chateau Lane after they were reported stolen. A carjacking and kidnapping incident was also reported as occurring at Chateau Lane in January.
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