The self-described mission of the California-based Retirement Housing Foundation – which owns and operates The Carlin Apartments near Ballston Mall in Arlington – is to “provide a range of housing options and services for older adults, economically disadvantaged families and persons with disabilities.”
So why are they kicking an impoverished, crippled woman out of the building?
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I’ve heard plenty of complaints about poor treatment at The Carlin from retirees there, many of whom live in Section 8-subsidized apartments, including: verbal harrassment, eviction threats, unprovoked towing of cars and even rent shake-downs.
After forking over $120 for supposedly unpaid back rent, one elderly lady told me she finally demanded documentation that she actually owed the extra money. She never got it – or a refund. The manager also sent her a nasty note two years ago accusing her of “tampering” with a hallway AC unit, threatening to charge her half the cost to repair it.
Another retiree who used to work for Washington doyenne Pamela Harriman and Virginia state Sen. Omer Hirst (the Dulles Toll Road is named after him) says she got an eviction notice just three days before she was to undergo breast surgery, giving her 21 days to vacate the premises, for allegedly having “an unauthorized person in your residence.” The manager backed down only after the tenant’s son sent a letter pointing out that while he visited his mother regularly, he lived in his own home nearby. “I feel like I’m in jail,” she told me on Tuesday.
Still another tenant with brain damage says the same manager threatened him with eviction for no good cause at least three times, had his car towed from the building’s parking lot (he later got a judgement against The Carlin for the towing costs) and also received a 10-day quit-or-pay notice for bogus back rent. In February, his doctor wrote a letter confirming that his elevated blood pressure was due to “increasing stress and anxiety…stemming from apparent harrassment from his landlord.” Perhaps because he was the one to report apparent fire code violations such as a locked exit door and disabled fire alarm.
This list is far from complete. Tenants have reported unauthorized entry, missing money and valuables, noxious fumes and other problems, but despite numerous calls to both RHF and Arlington’s Section 8, Legal Aid and Aging and Disabilites Services offices, nothing has been done to help these desperate old folks. I got the same pass-the-buck runaround when I called county officials on their behalf.
After I urged Board member Walter Tejada to look into these allegations, I am happy to report that he met with tenants, who reportedly gave him an earful. However, on Wednesday an Arlington judge ordered a sick, crippled woman to vacate the premises after several previous unsuccessful eviction attempts. Her lawyer plans to appeal.
After the court hearing, the Carlin’s manager was overheard boasting in the lobby that “the county can’t make me do anything.” RHF East Coast manager Jeffrey Ferguson did not return my call.
Since when did extortion, verbal harrassment and intimidation of vulnerable elderly people become okay in Arlington County?
