Photo by Jill Freidberg
KL Shannon
We lived in the Central Area, and you know we lived in apartments. We had a great...the owner was a great guy named Paul Green. We were there for 6 years. We were paying $1250 for three bedrooms. And now, it's interesting, because I have a good job, I make a good salary, and decent benefits. But I couldn't afford to stay here, because I have both my nephews that are living with me and my mother. And you know I knew that the housing crisis was bad. Somewhere I didn't stay in the loop as far as knowing that it's really bad in the Central Area, because I'm thinking it's gonna be easy to find something. You know, I got a good job. I'm looking and I'm like, I'm thinking...this is a joke! You know, I'm looking and I'm finding houses in the Central Area, but they're wanting like $2200, $2500, you know. And I'm like, oh my god! And then, not just the reality of how much rents were but the racism! I would call, and we would have been communicating by email, and then you get on the phone, and the whole tone changes. You know it exists. You've heard it, you've talked to people that...but when it actually is happening to you! It's like, oh my god! I mean I didn't think I was ever gonna find anything. I mean it took me a year and some months, before I even found something. It was so horrible. It was so horrible.