86-year-old woman fighting eviction

[The Straight Story]

86-year-old woman fighting eviction


Officials said Belle Perry violated her lease because her son sold drugs on the property.

The Bucks County Housing Authority has filed paperwork to evict an 86-year-old woman from her federally subsidized home in Venice Ashby because officials say her son sold drugs on the property, among other lease violations.

...
Perry denied the allegations. "I don't allow anybody to smoke nothing in my house," she said Friday.

Police records of the Aug. 20 drug arrest state that her son, Sylvester Perry, sold a small amount of drugs to another man on the 1600 block of Foster Avenue Circle. Belle Perry lives in that block. Sylvester Perry is in prison on $40,000 bail awaiting an October hearing on those charges.

On Aug. 26, the housing authority filed a complaint seeking Belle Perry's eviction. She received the documents in the mail Aug. 27 and they stated that an eviction hearing would be held Sept. 1, her daughter Bobbie Perry said.

When the family went to court Tuesday, they said they asked for a continuance, but the request was denied. District Judge Wallace Bateman ruled that the home would be sealed Friday at noon, according to court records.

Perry's eight children and about 80 grandchildren gathered at her home Friday to try to prevent the eviction, but officials didn't show up and no attempt was made to evict her. Housing authority Executive Director Don Grondahl declined to comment on the case and Venice Ashby site manager Darla Moody wasn't at work Friday.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/62/2009/september/06/86-year-old-woman-fighting-eviction/print.html

[Frustratedlady]

1. Something is missing from the article

In the first place, why would the son be in prison on $40K bail for one count of selling a small amount of drugs?

Two, why couldn't 8 children and 80 grandchildren come up with enough money to pay her rent? I would imagine she has helped them, from time to time.

Just curious.

[lilwunder]

10. Yes, something IS missing

Like a link to some information on birth control!!!

"Perry's eight children and about 80 grandchildren..."


What the hell??? 8 children, with 'around' 10 children a piece! Damn people!

[SoCalDem]

2. The son of an 86 year old woman is no wet-behind-the-ears kid.

Perhaps getting evicted from that mob-scene she apparently lives with now, would not be such a bad thing. It sounds like 86-yr old grandma is being taken advantage of.

[haele]

4. At that age, being evicted might kill her -

Eviction is a listed as a major life stressor for anyone; that's one of the boxes on the checklists used to assess stroke and depression risk.
She needs an address of some sort for any assistance. What is left of her entire life is probably in her current residence - and who knows how long she has lived there. That "mob scene" might be the only place left within her price range - what is she going to do, go back to work at 86 so she can afford to move to another subsidized apartment of her own at a slightly less criminal neighborhood with fewer security measures than the one she lives at now?
As for the kids, a few of those 8 children and 80 grandchildren might even be living with her because they have no where else to go - and would you tell granny that she can't take in a child or grandchild as punishment to the child that screwed up, that what little measure of stability those kids might be able to find they can't have because we as a society need to punish the crazy or "lazy" who might be chronically poor? Then again, she might be wanting to live as independent a life as she could in her old age and assuming when her children come to visit her, it's a treat and they'll always be on their best behavior.

And ultimately - where might she go? The children might themselves not have room for her, but asking an elderly person with who knows what problems - commonly arthritis, osteoporosis, diabetes, heart condition at that age - to "sleep on the couch or crash on the floor" is downright painful and cruel.

She's being punished for something she had very little control over - whether or not you believe she knew about the severity of her son's activities, she's probably been as much a victim of his issues as the rest of society.

The "War on Drugs" has been unnecessarily cruel to get at small fish who would do better with rehab, training, and jobs - and is too often used as a method to keep those - especially "excess" young men - at the margins of society in a poverty/prison cycle. From the evidence over the years, one could make a case that it has been abused by unscrupulous and bigoted elected officials and portrayed as a populist form of social eugenics.

Haele

[SoCalDem]

5. By now social services has to be involved.

After the coverage of her dilemma, she may finally get some assistance that she may have needed all along.

It sounds to me, like "Grandma's place" because less hers, and more the place of the moochers who glombed onto her..

A woman her age is most likely in need of some peace & quiet..She'll probably be better off once the hangers-on are gone.

[haele]

7. That happens alot with poorer families -

The one stable household is where the kids go when there's trouble - and too often it's grandma's place.
She does need help, and I really hope she can get it.

Haele

[IdaBriggs]

3. Sounds like the son is a druggie, everyone in the neighborhood

knows about it (including the family), and everyone is "shocked" that she is going to get in trouble for allowing him in her home. She probably didn't know how to stop him (or even cared, until it affected her).

Now she's about to join the ranks of the homeless, because the family didn't take care of business -- specifically, making sure Drug Boy wasn't able to do his business in tax-payer subsidized facilities.

Bummer for her. Fortunately, there are a lot of people on the waiting lists for these homes, and hopefully the next person who ends up there will make sure illegal activity isn't happening on the premises.

In the meantime, with 8 children, and 80 grandchildren, hopefully somebody can find a couch for her someplace. :)

:shrug:

[Raineyb]

6. Hardly the point is it?

Since when is it acceptable for family members to have to pay for what others do? Or is it okay because she's poor?

[SoCalDem]

8. Families always "pay" for the sins of their members

some pay in money, some pay in social stigma. It's always been that way. The issue in this case, for me at least, is the fact that an EIGHTY SIX year old woman was being taken advantage of by her son..Just how old is this son anyway? 60? 65? He's no teenybopper with some weed in his underwear drawer, now is he?

At 86, she's probably got hearing issues, eyesight issues, perhaps arthritis..she's the victim here..and since it's the housing authority that's involved, she's not living in "her own" home.. she's renting, and her "boarder"..her son is selling drugs.

If it was HIS apartment and she was living with him, the outcome would still be the same when he went to jail, only then no one would probably know much about it., At least the notoriety of the case will get this old lady some much-needed assistance.

[IdaBriggs]

9. No, it *IS* the point. She's living off of MY DIME (and yours).

The son was committing ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES in her (OUR) home. The lease clearly states "NO ILLEGAL ACTIVITY PERMITTED."

She is not a "crime victim." She is a Crime Enabler. Her family didn't take care of business (by making sure criminal-boy didn't do his business in her home), and she loses as a result.

As I said, on a positive note, someone else who desperately needs the housing (and is willing to make sure the place stays safe with no illegal activity permitted, thus endangering the rest of the neighborhood) will get the place.

And I don't give a rat's behind if she's poor or not -- if I, as a landlord, permit tenants to sell illegal drugs, I could lose my property, too.

Them's the rules. Break 'em, and pay.