It's been a month now since i started apartment-hunting, and right now, after seeing over a dozen apartments in five different brooklyn neighborhoods, i'm pretty much right where i started. The first apartment we looked at was easily the best, and the guy with whom i am looking and i were both dissapointed that we didn't get it. Stuff in the same price range either isn't as big, as well-lit, or is just completely run down, as in the case of one apartment we looked at today in Kensington and another, a three bedroom for $1250 which was not only in real bad shape, bathroomwise, but was also right next to the BQE and extremely noisy because of its proximity to said nightmarish expressway.
Some of the landlords we've interacted seem like perfectly nice people, but these folks are by no means in the majority. (And no, i'm not advocating murder in the title of this post, just quoting the Dead Kennedys -- perhaps as covered by The Coup.) One woman who owned a three-story building on Tompkins Ave in Bed-Stuy complained that we were only the second "good tenants" to look at the place, in the middle of a working-class African American/West -Indian neighborhood, because everyone else was "on section 8." (Is it even legal to refuse to rent to someone because they are recieving section 8 vouchers?) She was clearly interested in making Bed-Stuy wealthier and whiter at the expense of its current residents, and kept describing the neighborhood in terms of its proximity to gentrified Fort Greene.
Then there's the ad on craig's list which demands that any inquiries concerning the 2 bedroom sunset park apartment in question come from people who aren't on "welfare" and demands that applicants supply job and salary information prior to even being allowed to look at the place. I stooped yesterday to a low enough point that actually responded. Haven't heard back.
From what I understand, it is completely at the discretion of private landlords as to whether they accept Section 8 vouchers; most landlords jump at the opportunity because it means a steady cash flow, straight from Uncle Sam. (None of the hassle of late rent payments, etc.)
ReplyDeleteSaid landlords are usually more interested in lining their own pockets instead of fretting about the ethnicity of their tenants. Section 8 is an easy way to do so.
Then again, New York City is such a special, interesting case, isn't it?
It didn't make sense. A bourgie-artsy Japanese immigrant woman buying a building in Bed-Stuy and trying to lure bourgie white tenants to gentrify the neighborhood i can understand. Turning away guaranteed money doesn't make so much sense, unless she didn't really understand what Section 8 was, which is possible. She also wanted our Credit Card Numbers and expiration dates, which just added to the sketchiness.
ReplyDeleteIt's the societal implications attached to that section 8 voucher that make that landlord's actions make perfect sense. Section 8 = welfare = drug-addicted welfare queens = lower property values. The exact same thing is starting to happen in Denver, except here it's Section 8=welfare=drug-addicted illegal immigrants.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right, and it was pretty clear to me she was defining "good tenant" in brazenly racialized terms, as people who would not otherwise know or be in Bed-Stuy, coded as black, poor, on crack and on the dole.
ReplyDeleteI think my disbelief was with how open she was about it all. This seems somewhat naive on my part in retrospect.
Hey, what happened to the dream post?
ReplyDeleteenh, i scrapped it.
ReplyDelete