CALLING MY APARTMENT HOME!

                                               

                                  CALLING MY APARTMENT HOME!

The bible suggests, ‘a child is expected to act (speak) as a child’. Similarly, ‘an

adult (female/male) is expected to act (speak) accordingly. In this society, under normal

situations, a child’s need for shelter is provided for her/him by (an) adult(s).

However, this norm does not follow that a child must provide shelter for an adult. I am

responsible for securing my own housing, among other basic, needs.

How many adults have wished they were still ‘kids’ with guardians/parents caring

for them? I, for one, begrudge those ‘halcyon indifferences’ which came from

having others provide for me. However, as an adult senior, I have no illusions that such

patrimony will be forthcoming.

It has been years since I became responsible for providing a basic need such as housing

for me. If you are an immigrant coming out of a Caribbean/Tropical climate/region

like me, or even from a non-tropical area, you will not only accept your responsibility to

pay your rent, making every effort to do so, but you will also expect such services that

offer a modicum of  comfort and ‘humane living’.

Here, I stress ‘humane living’ since very often, over the years of living abroad,

it’s been the attitude of those renting apartments to ‘foreigners’ like me, that,

“You are not ‘civilized’, so that you will be satisfied with living under whatever

condition, such as a freezing apartment.”

In other words, the concept ‘humane living’ does not translate to me. I am at the mercy of

landlords, ignorant of my privileges and rights.

One colloquial proverb preached to me in my home and village in Jamaica, West

Indies, was ‘where ignorance is bliss, it’s folly to be wise’. Drummed incessantly into

my ears, it became a ‘mantra’ for not speaking up. Instead, I daily suffered every

imaginable insult lobbed by the landlord towards me.

After suffering for years, this hometown maxim of ‘where ignorance is bliss, it is …’

became ‘folly’ for not speaking up. Repeatedly, complaining to city and state agencies 

of the lack of services in my apartment, I became frustrated since their help was

compromising. I was at my wits’ end in the Fall of 2010 when I stumbled into

an office complex intersecting West 126^th and 127^th streets close to

Amsterdam Avenue

.

Entering the building, I was unsure whether I was wasting my time.  When the

receptionist asked me,

“What can I do for you?” I growled to her,

“I am freezing in my apartment, I saw your office and decided to check what’s it about.

I need help. I have to take off from work to get help.”

The receptionist gave me a form to fill out. I said to myself,

“Maybe I walked into the right place; why is she having me complete this form?”

After completing the form, I was invited into the office and introduced to the Executive

Director, Ms. Elsia Vasquez.

Ms. Vasquez, upon reading the finished form, explained to me that before she can help

I had to produce leases going back several years, and also cancelled rent checks. I told

her that these papers were at home and I can produce them whenever. We made an

appointment to get together. Ms Vasquez further asked me for the management’s

contact number. Giving the number to her, she immediately called and reminded

them that it was after October 15^th, it was cold outside, and the law required

heat to be provided. When I got home, the heat was on.

Keeping my appointment with Ms. Vasquez at PA LANTE Harlem, she went

through the leases, the cancelled rent checks, & the DHCR complaint letters.

She timely researched each item. She then called DHCR and asked about the

complaints made and their resolutions. DHCR informed her that the complaints

were still outstanding. With the help of DHCR, Ms. Vasquez was able to conclude that

the landlord owed me thousands of dollars.

Putting the DHCR complaint package together for me, all I had to do was to walk

it over to the local office at the State Office Building. There, the rep. stamped each set of

packets, kept the original, returned the copies for PA LANTE’s file, and for my records.

Today, with that fortuitous entrance into the building housing PA’LANTE Harlem,

I learnt that their are city and state advocacy agencies, where one could go for

relief from exploitive landlords.

But more importantly, through the prosecutorial crusade of Ms. Elsia Vasquez,

Executive Director, PA’LANTE Harlem, I stand to get back, and am getting back

heaps of ‘dead presidents’, such as having my rent drastically reduced. The

landlord still tries to renege on his responsibilities, but with PA’LANTE Harlem

watching my back, I am more secure with speaking up for my entitlements. To

a senior like me,

“THIS IS HUGE!”

Lastly, to my grandmother, nanny, and village seers who preached the proverb,

“Where ignorance is bliss, it’s folly to be wise,”

I am grateful for your wisdom.

However, none of you had to endure the indignities of basic living with which your

grandson had to tolerate. Had I remained ‘blissful’ in my suffering, I would have

frozen to death; the landlord would have had a license to rent the apartment

for a higher rate; & I would have died prematurely.

THAT’S CAPITALISM FOR YOU!