Page 2 - Florida Sentinel 10-9-20

Feature
Tampa Park Apartments Used 9-Month Process To Help Residents Relocate
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
The residents who remain in Tampa Park Apartments have had 9 months to relocate after they were informed in February that the property had been sold. The Coron- avirus (COVID-19) hit the com- munity, which put additional pressure on the owners. How- ever, they were not deterred, continuing to work through the pandemic to assist residents to relocate.
When Governor Ron De- santis put in the rent morato- rium, where residents affected by the virus would not be forced to pay their rent each month, many took advantage of that by not paying any rent, whether affected or not. In
some instances, that affected the funds needed to operate the complex.
Now, with less than one month remaining for all resi- dents to be out by November 1, 2020, some who still remain want to blame the property for not being able to relocate.
Back in 2018, when HUD removed the subsidized resi- dents (172), instead of the own- ers increasing the price to market rates, those residents remained there at the rent rate they had paid. New renters did, however, pay a market rate, which was much lower than the rate that is considered market.
“The residents who live here were qualified to live any- where, but they chose Tampa Park because of the location and price,” Mrs. Yolanda
MRS. YOLANDA AMOS ...Property Manager, Tampa Park Apartments, Inc.
Amos, Property Manager at Tampa Park Apartments, said. “Our process started in
February to assist those renters by providing several programs that will pay their rent, lights and relocation fees,” she ex-
plained. “Most of the residents took advantage of this offer.”
All of the residents were no- tified in February of the ‘con- tract for sale,’ and informed of their move-out date before or by their lease expiration date.
“This process was done face-to-face with the residents signing off for confirmation,” Mrs. Amos further explained. “We have kept our residents well informed of the move-out process.”
“On September 1st, approx- imately 59 residents were given a 30-day “notice to vacate”. They were notified again on September 15th and again the week before the October 2nd deadline. The staff was in- structed the week of to call all of the residents who had not made arrangements with the staff or had not moved. The residents affected last week had expired leases and were 4-7 months delinquent in rent, ig- nored the notices, did not seek the help for paying rent and ba- sically told the staff they would have to be put out before they left, so I am not sure why folks outside of the process have so much input now, when the res- idents knew what was about to transpire.”
On Friday, October 2, 2020, Mrs. Amos and Richard Clebert, Assistant Manager, went to the resi- dences of approximately 20 residents who had not re- sponded, complied, or followed up on the 30-day vacate no- tices.
During the process, the staff was followed by a Tampa Bay Times reporter, Christo- pher O’Donnell, who for years has been attempting to speak with the persons who head the organizations that own the complex.
“The Times reporter says we were “putting out” resi- dents, which we were not doing. A photo was taken im- plying that management was arguing with a resident. That is false information. The resident was asking to move the next day, which was granted,” Amos stated.
Since March, Tampa Park has been working with Signa- ture Properties and Latoria ‘Tori’ Boyd (owner) to assist residents with relocation. The purchaser of the property do- nated funds to help with relo- cation as did Hillsborough County through Solita’s House.
“What a lot of people are not aware of is that the owners fought to make sure the resi- dents had enough time to move out, and that the owners did the right things for the people,” Clebert said.
“The pandemic put a wrench in things, but Ms. (Kay) Andrews continued to fight for the people, contacting city and county agencies for as- sistance. She is the reason the buyer agreed to put funding aside for the residents.”
Clebert adds that, “people are not open to change. They are not aware of the legacy left behind. These apartments were built more than 50 years ago, and now the owners want to move on to something else and they have that right.”
Clebert stated that the Times reporter has been asked to leave the property on more than one occasion. “I believe it’s a privilege thing for him. We had to call the police on him, but he keeps coming back inciting the people.
“Most 0f the people under- stand what’s going on because we’ve given them more than enough time,” he concluded.
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