Evictions. I couldn't believe my eyes.

1. 79

   brimancandyposted 13 years ago

   I live in a large apartment complex, and I am totally disgusted with our management's approach to evicting tenants. I understand that they have a very strict rental policy here, but, what they did the other day just seems a bit cruel.
   
   It seems like there is someone being evicted from this place every day. You know it, because they just take all their belongings, and throw them out by the dumpster, and the other tenants come along and pick through it and take what they want, and go.
   
   I was watching them clear out yet another apartment, and they were putting everything these poor people owned by the trash. They were throwing out a whole bunch of toys, a crib, and baby stuff. They were also throwing away quite a bit of food, and clothing.
   
   I don't know exactly what the situation is with those particular residents, but, for them to just send all this stuff to the dump seems like such a waste. Why can't they just pick up the phone, and call the local shelters and have them come and pick up this stuff? At least hold it for so long, so that the original owners can have time to pick it up?
   
   If I could afford it, I would get myself a truck, and go around and collect all this stuff. I would make sure that the needy got a good portion of it. And, have one heck of a yard sale with the rest. Why waste all this perfectly good stuff?
   
   It's bad enough that those people and their baby have no place to live. And, I'll tell you, this place isn't worth it.

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   1. 78

      Mighty Momposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I don't think I've ever heard of a landlord taking eviction to that level of inhumanity. Bummer.
      What you don't know is what actions were taken prior to the actual eviction and how man months' rent these tenants were in arrears on their rent. But why get technical. The whole thing sucks.
      
      Hey! Here's an idea. How about you have that friend of your partner's who comes over once a week and parties naked come moved into one of the evacuated apartments. That way when your partner wants to hang with him he can easily go over there and your apt doesn't get stink with cigarette and weed smoke! Maybe you could even get a bonus for recommending him to the apt mgmt.

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      1. 79

         brimancandyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for the idea, but, I don't think he would be willing to move out of his $400,000.00 house, to be in an apartment. And, even if he did, he would just be at our place every day anyways.

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   2. 63

      Lisa HWposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      It's an awful situation for those people, but I'm wondering if, maybe, the concern would be sharing something like bedbugs with the shelter too.  From recent stuff I've been seeing in the news and online, that's a big problem.  What someone observing wouldn't know, though, is whether there's a court hearing between the original "official" eviction and the problem of having stuff that isn't cleared out be there beyond a certain date.
      
      I would think if the renters had a solid reason for not being able to get the stuff out by x date, there might be some way they could go to court and say, "Look.  My mother is dying, I'm in a wheelchair, and my next check isn't until February, can I have another x days before my stuff is dumped?"  I'd hope there are laws or guidelines that allow judges (or whoever makes that kind of decision in court) a little flexibility in a situation like that.
      
      It may not be fair or right, but I can see a judge telling the owner he had to have movers pick it up and put it in storage, maybe cover it, and add in the expense to whatever the renter owes him.
      
      Sometimes, too, though,  people will get a bunch of second-hand, cheap/free furniture for an apartment, and just decide to abandon it.  In Boston there's a whole, big, "situation" each  year when "zillions" of  students' abandoned stuff is left out for the trash.  Sometimes people don't really even care about whatever stuff they have.  They figure they'll "just get new or more" later.
      
      I'm not saying the stuff you see thrown out isn't a sad situation, but sometimes it's not all as sad as it may appear to be (or at least the renter is as much a victim as he appears to be anyway).   

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   3. 84

      Aya Katzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Sometimes putting things by the dumpster is the very best way to get them to people who really need them.
      
      I once bought a homemade bed for thirty dollars second hand. I used it for a year, and when I had to move, I tried desperately to donate it to charity. Good Will would not take it. The Salvation Army could maybe schedule a pick up in two weeks, but I was leaving in one week. Reluctantly, I had a neighbor at the apartment house where I lived help me carry it downstairs and set it by the dumpster. Long before the garbage was picked up, somebody who needed the bed came and took it to use!
      
      The same can be true for food and baby formula. People who need these things very badly look for them in and around dumpsters. You eliminate the middleman, and nobody has to know who needed it, or how badly they needed it. Nobody has to ask for a handout. Nobody has to be shamed.
      
      When you look at it that way, it isn't cruel at all.

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      1. 63

         Lisa HWposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         A couple of months ago I went to the Massachusetts website, looking for jury duty information (  ).  On the front page they had a pretty horrifying article about the increasing bedbug problem in the country.  There was stuff in there I didn't have a clue about - like that bedbugs can live on hard furniture (and not just in upholstered/fabric stuff)..  After reading that, I'm not even sure I want anyone who lives in an apartment bringing their pocketbook or laptop into my house!    
         
         I hate to see good stuff thrown out just because someone doesn't want to keep it, or can't; but I can't help but think there's often a reason people throw stuff out, and sometimes it's a pretty nasty one.   I know there can be all kinds of good stuff in dumpsters (maybe outgrown kids' bikes or something like that), but I wouldn't most of it (especially baby formula) and don't really like the idea that someone else who can't get new would have to resort to using some things either.  Some things - yes.  Other things - no.
         
         If I had a baby or little kids and needed something for them (especially food or formula or a crib that meets today's standards), I wouldn't like having to ask for something like food stamps, WIC, or whatever kind of help may be out there for mothers of young kids; but I'd feel better doing that and knowing I was making sure my children had non-dumpster stuff that I knew hadn't been in someone's flooded basement or was thrown out because someone vomited on it; than if my kids were using dumpster stuff.     In actuality, my own children had all new and clean stuff when they were little.  I don't think someone else's children ought to have less than I was lucky enough to be able to give my own.  Cheap, WalMart, stuff -sure.  Second-hand stuff from someone the parents know and trust - sure.  Not most dumpster-stuff, though.   

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2. 67

   Bill Manningposted 13 years ago

   Down here in Florida renters are given a number of days notice. Not sure how long but it's not too long.
   
   Once that time has pasted a sheriff comes to the place and they remove every single item in the place. They put it by the side of the road in the common grounds area, between the sidewalk and the road.
   
   Then it's up to the renter to keep track of it and do whatever they want to do with it. Seems cruel but they did get a notice that would happen.
   
   I've seen a whole family with 3 kids sitting on their stuff by the road a day before Christmas. So sometimes it's not fair or right.
   
   However there are many times the landlord is getting taken for a ride by freeloaders who do whatever they can to get free rent, especially in a place like Florida. Life is not fair.

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   1. 79

      brimancandyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I used to own a historic home, and we had 3 apartments inside that we rented out. We had two really good female tenants. But, my partner decided that he would rather rent to men, and when one of our tenants moved out, we moved in this young black man. He seemed very nice.
      
      He paid only one month of rent, and the next thing you know he disappeared, and there was some other black man living there, and he kept telling us that he was just watching the place until the other guy came back. The rent was never paid, and this other guy was having parties every night. And, we lived in the house, and it was hell.
      
      We kicked that guy out on his ass. The original guy returned to say that he was still living there, paid one more month of rent, and left again, and now some other black man and his girlfriend were living up there. Saying they were just watching the place until he came back.
      
      There was a total of 8 months of unpaid rent between all of those people living there. So we kicked that couple out, and told them that if the original guy planned on returning he better have 8 months of rent checks for us or we were going to sue all of them.
      
      We never saw any of them again.
      
      Oh and we did not have to get the sherrif to evict them. We told them we were starting the eviction process one day, and they were gone the next.
      We eventually sold that house to a friend, and he evicted all but one girl that was still living there.
      
      The house next door to us was also a flop house for parties and porch rats. The guy who bought our house, also bought the house next door and evicted everyone in it. He says the neighborhood has never been more quiet. I guess we were just way too nice.
      
      That house was a pain in th ass!  Never again.

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3. 68

   lrohnerposted 13 years ago

   I know that Connecticut has a state law prohibiting that kind of behavior with evictions. The town where the person is being evicted is required to bring in movers and move the evictee's possessions into an indoor storage facility for three months or something like that -- not sure. The evictees are not charged for the moving or the storage.
   
   I'm sure there are tons of freeloaders out there, but there are tons of people in this economy who are financially down and out, and this seems like a much more humane approach.

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4. 84

   Aya Katzposted 13 years ago

   Lisa, there's a difference between placing something in the dumpster and placing it next to the dumpster. In the dumpster means you are throwing it out because it is no good. Next to the dumpster means it's in excellent condition, but you don't have room for it anymore.
   
   It's so important not to make it seem that people can only accept things from "certified" established sources. People can help each other. They can do so anonymously and without meeting. And no big name charity with full time employees has to take a cut.
   
   It's like the practice of gleaning in the Book of Ruth. Nobody is forced to give away something he could use, but nothing useful goes to waste. It's a win/win.

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5. 59

   SomewayOuttaHereposted 13 years ago

   ..unfortunately i've witnessed someone's life lying in the streets too many times....many, many reasons....landlords paying someone to drive up to thrift shops and dumping someone's entire life in the parking lot...thrown around like garbage...like it has no value, no use...family photos, very personal items, etc etc...and if you try to contact anyone via paperwork thrown around like a telephone bill...they aren't available...they're gone...where?...some die, some land in the hospital, shelters, etc....it's sad really....so many stories, so many reasons, so many lives ripped apart....

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6. 54

   Edgapoetposted 13 years ago

   When you don't pay your rent, BAD THINGS happen.
   When you treat others with dis-respect, BAD THINGS happen.
   When you DUMP on people, BAD THINGS happen.
   When you treat others like dog poo, BAD THINGS happen!
   
   Time to look at our capitalist society and see it for what is is:
   economic slavery!!
   Landlord owes the bank
   Tennent owes the landlord.
   Bank becomes slavemaster,
   landlord becomes oppressor,
   Tennent becomes SLAVE.
   Its the SYSTEM that SUCKS, the people are blind followers.
   Change the SYSTEM!

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