There are so many (stories), but for me to start at the beginning, it’s a long story. I’ve been going at it with housing management for months about evicting me.
I moved out of my house last Tuesday and am now homeless staying at the hotel with my five kids, two of my nephews my handicapped friend, and his caretaker. We all lived in my household and I was evicted for letting my nephew temporarily sleep on my couch.
Those in power never have to worry about where they’re gonna sleep night at night or how they’re gonna feed their kids. It’s wrong how they evict people! Tribal police (that they brought with them) actually told me they have to file in tribal court to evict people, which they don’t do! I don’t know where or when they got the power to do that themselves.
So far even three of the current council told me to put this on the agenda; as it is they couldn’t help me with our situation as they have no say in what housing does or no oversight for their spending.
I don’t know how the council will do with that funding also, but for them to at least be able to help those getting evicted and have some say in that will help those in the future, that they were wrongfully evicted.
I was given 24 hours to get out and they showed up like, six people deep...they sat there in their vehicles and watched me when I was single-handedly moving my sh** out by myself.
How they evict people is so wrong and illegal, especially people with kids like I was. Me and my girls, we were on the streets in a f***king garage when I got evicted when it was still raining and snowing!
This is one instance out of I don’t know how many people they’ve evicted and did it with no compassion whatsoever. The stipulations they gave me were ridiculous.
If I had to call an ambulance for someone, I would’ve got evicted.
If I had to call law enforcement, I would’ve got evicted.
If my kids had a curfew violation, I would’ve got evicted.
If I needed a repair on my house, I would’ve got evicted.
I had no valid reason in the first place to be on probation, because the furnace they failed to fix or replace from the previous tenants was positive for meth. So they had my family in a meth-positive house, and then tried putting me on probation after already acknowledging it was their mistake in the first place!
Then to come back with a bullsh*** story like, “Oh, sometimes that happens when there’s an instance where someone’s house or cupboards come up positive and we find out those were never replaced when they redid the house.” So where did that money go for cupboards, or a new furnace, or the walls that you all say everything is brand new in these houses? Some of them might be, but not all of them are definitely not the ones in Arapaho.
Many of my neighbors got evicted over the years. I was there for 6 years 4 months. and the last year and a half I’ve been going at it with them. I got my first eviction notice on my birthday (in August).
My kids have somewhat just been rolling with the punches, but it’s not easy we’re like 11 people deep in two hotel rooms. It’s crowded…everyone is stir-crazy. They (my kids) are embarrassed or ashamed cause all their friends saw the house boarded up last week. We paid everything we had for this room, and tomorrow we need to hustle up to figure out what we gonna do.
I always intended to speak out. It’s just now I’m out of tribal housing and I don’t have to kiss a** or play nice with anyone anymore. Lisa Redman, the housing worker, is the one going around doing all this, and Pat Goggles just backs her up. None of them ever liked dealing with me; they told me I was “too confrontational”. Last summer they had us in the hotel for 7 weeks while they supposedly had an HVAC team in my house to clean it. I don’t even know if they even did that, because they did the same meth test a month later and it was still positive!
We had to empty the whole house, and while we did, I had mistakenly left behind two TVs that were stolen either by the workers or whoever did the furnace. I never found out, and they never replaced those, either! I was pissed, so I went off on them, and then after that, nobody wanted to take my case. Then that’s when Lisa had it out for me, and, like I said…any little thing or situation, I would’ve been evicted.
And how they do it with no compassion whatsoever…they never give enough notice to make other arrangements or find another place. They basically put everyone out on the street. Even the guy at the Regional HUD office in Denver told my husband when he talked to them, told him to sue if they had us in a meth-positive house all this time.
Plus, where did that $7-8000 go for a furnace when it was never replaced like they said it was? They “couldn’t find” a purchase order or a receipt for a furnace for that unit when we met with the housing board. That’s why they were like, “Oh, sometimes that happens when we find cupboards or whatever haven’t been replaced.” What?! So people have been getting evicted and it probably wasn’t even their fault! if they’re saying these appliances and cupboards and furnaces are brand new when they’re not, who took the money and said they bought new stuff for these houses, and the old ones are still in there, positive for drugs and getting people evicted?
I even did a hair follicle drug test because they said I had to in order to keep my house. Me and my husband and his friend who stays with us…we all did before they even redid our lease this last time.
It’s f**cked up what they did, and I hope it never happens to anyone else. I’m glad my husband works and was able to qualify for a loan to get us this room. What about the ones who don’t, and are just out in the street?
Tamara Warren
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