Post by abbey1227 on Aug 20, 2021 14:43:07 GMT
..........along with the 2 adult males living with her.
The State
‘It’s not very church-like.’ SC woman evicted from church-owned house after 25 years
David Travis Bland Thu, August 19, 2021, 11:22 AM
On one of the hottest days of the year in July, flies feasted on a spoiled pack of chicken breasts that sat in the yard among the strewed belongings of a woman’s former home on Columbia’s King Street.
During the Columbia summer heat and in the middle of a pandemic, Elvira Kennedy, 76, had been evicted from her home of a quarter century after getting behind on rent. The yard looked like the house had vomited and spewed clothes, cabinets, mattresses, the food in the refrigerator and hundreds of other items onto the yard, sidewalk and curb in front of the home.
Willie Johnson, who also lived in the house, held a picture taken in about 2000 of a teenager with his prom date. The teen is Kennedy’s son, and Johnson thought she would want the photo, he said.
He was dealing with homelessness, Johnson said, and Kennedy had given him a place to stay. He wore a yellow shirt, one of the few pieces of clothes not ruined by the eviction. The shirt said Bethel African Methodist Episcopal.
Bethel A.M.E. Church owns the house that Kennedy rented for so long. Landmark Resources, a real estate company, managed the property.
“It’s not very church-like,” Johnson said about the eviction.
But the church’s pastor said Bethel didn’t kick out Kennedy. Rather, the management company that collected rent evicted her.
The eviction speaks to problems present in Columbia and the United States — housing for the low income and elderly, aging, homelessness and unemployment during the pandemic and gentrification.
With the latest federal eviction moratorium set to expire on Oct 30, thousands more South Carolina renters could be displaced.
Now, the Columbia NAACP branch is involved with Kennedy’s eviction.
“My personal stance, it’s an ungodly thing for anybody in the church to evict ... a 76-year-old lady and put her stuff on the streets,” said Columbia NAACP branch President Oveta Glover. “Not just her, but anybody. For them to put her out in COVID season, I don’t know where God is in this matter.”
‘It’s not very church-like.’ SC woman evicted from church-owned house after 25 years
David Travis Bland Thu, August 19, 2021, 11:22 AM
On one of the hottest days of the year in July, flies feasted on a spoiled pack of chicken breasts that sat in the yard among the strewed belongings of a woman’s former home on Columbia’s King Street.
During the Columbia summer heat and in the middle of a pandemic, Elvira Kennedy, 76, had been evicted from her home of a quarter century after getting behind on rent. The yard looked like the house had vomited and spewed clothes, cabinets, mattresses, the food in the refrigerator and hundreds of other items onto the yard, sidewalk and curb in front of the home.
Willie Johnson, who also lived in the house, held a picture taken in about 2000 of a teenager with his prom date. The teen is Kennedy’s son, and Johnson thought she would want the photo, he said.
He was dealing with homelessness, Johnson said, and Kennedy had given him a place to stay. He wore a yellow shirt, one of the few pieces of clothes not ruined by the eviction. The shirt said Bethel African Methodist Episcopal.
Bethel A.M.E. Church owns the house that Kennedy rented for so long. Landmark Resources, a real estate company, managed the property.
“It’s not very church-like,” Johnson said about the eviction.
But the church’s pastor said Bethel didn’t kick out Kennedy. Rather, the management company that collected rent evicted her.
The eviction speaks to problems present in Columbia and the United States — housing for the low income and elderly, aging, homelessness and unemployment during the pandemic and gentrification.
With the latest federal eviction moratorium set to expire on Oct 30, thousands more South Carolina renters could be displaced.
Now, the Columbia NAACP branch is involved with Kennedy’s eviction.
“My personal stance, it’s an ungodly thing for anybody in the church to evict ... a 76-year-old lady and put her stuff on the streets,” said Columbia NAACP branch President Oveta Glover. “Not just her, but anybody. For them to put her out in COVID season, I don’t know where God is in this matter.”
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LONG ARTICLE.......................
The church took issue with her giving Johnson a place to stay, Kennedy said. She believes that factored into the eviction. Over the years, she’s taken in other people who needed a place to stay for a while, including college students, she said — they needed help so she gave help. There was never any issue before.
Being on a fixed income as the rent increased made it harder for her to pay rent over the years. When she first moved in, the rent was $650 a month, Kennedy said. The church had raised the rent to $1,150 by the time she was kicked out in July, according to Landmark Resources. That’s higher than the federal Housing and Urban Development department’s fair market rent of $990 for a two bedroom in downtown Columbia.
HUD’s fair market rent is often lower than the average rent of an area home, and Columbia’s rent prices have been on the rise even within the last year. In May 2020, the average rent for a Columbia two-bedroom apartment was $991, almost $200 less than the national average, according to apartmentlist.com. By August 2021, average rent for a two- bedroom increased to $1,274, which is now higher than the national average.
Beyond increased costs of housing, which outpaced wage growth in 2019, other factors contributed to Kennedy’s rising rent and the disparity between average rent in Columbia and HUD’s fair market rent.
Devine Street, just two blocks from Kennedy’s home, has had an influx of new luxury apartments in the last decade. The smaller two-bedroom living spaces at one of the apartment buildings start at about $1,600 a month. Other two bedrooms go for more than $2,000 a month. This inundation of more expensive housing has driven up rent for nearby residents.
Being on a fixed income as the rent increased made it harder for her to pay rent over the years. When she first moved in, the rent was $650 a month, Kennedy said. The church had raised the rent to $1,150 by the time she was kicked out in July, according to Landmark Resources. That’s higher than the federal Housing and Urban Development department’s fair market rent of $990 for a two bedroom in downtown Columbia.
HUD’s fair market rent is often lower than the average rent of an area home, and Columbia’s rent prices have been on the rise even within the last year. In May 2020, the average rent for a Columbia two-bedroom apartment was $991, almost $200 less than the national average, according to apartmentlist.com. By August 2021, average rent for a two- bedroom increased to $1,274, which is now higher than the national average.
Beyond increased costs of housing, which outpaced wage growth in 2019, other factors contributed to Kennedy’s rising rent and the disparity between average rent in Columbia and HUD’s fair market rent.
Devine Street, just two blocks from Kennedy’s home, has had an influx of new luxury apartments in the last decade. The smaller two-bedroom living spaces at one of the apartment buildings start at about $1,600 a month. Other two bedrooms go for more than $2,000 a month. This inundation of more expensive housing has driven up rent for nearby residents.
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